“Pusat Pertolongan” means “Help Center” in Malay, and it was a drug addiction rehabilitation center in Malaysia. Founded by a former German Catholic priest who converted to Islam, it operated out of a former home for victims of leprosy or TB (I am not sure which) in the town of Batu Gajah, near the city of Ipoh.
And I lived and worked there from 1981-82, as a Henry Luce Scholar, on a one-year assignment.
Alan AtKisson beside entrance sign for Pusat Pertolongan, 1 Apr 2009
The program was modeled on the highly confrontational, behavioral, sometimes psychologically brutal self-help program at Daytop Village on Staten Island. Mostly, therapists were ex-junkies themselves. Somehow, even though I was just 21 years old, the farthest thing from an ex-junkie, and the only non-Malaysian in the place, the management decided I should be the Officer in Charge and Therapist to the senior residents in the program.
I was not very effective as a therapist to Malaysian junkies. So I kept requesting that I be demoted. Finally, in a foreshadowing of my future career, I found my place as staff trainer and organizational consultant. (The story is summarized in my book The Sustainability Transformation.)
In April 2009, I found myself in Malaysia on other business, with an extra day or so before I could fly home. So I went to Ipoh, hired a car and driver, and went out to Batu Gajah, looking for Pusat Pertolongan. Thanks to the kindliness of the local residents, I found it.
Alan AtKisson 