So I am in Jakarta this week and next doing fieldwork here, and it has been a whirlwind of interviews, parent visits, and etc. My host Ibu Any is a bighearted and connected woman who seems to know everybody in the autism world here. One day we were chatting and she said, "Well, you really need to meet Dr. Rudy. Contact his wife Lisa." Dr. Rudy was the first doctor to bring ABA (a form of behavioral intervention) to Indonesia. So Lisa and I text messaged back and forth, she was welcoming and excited and set up an appointment for me and said, "You can meet me outside the Cipinang Jail Thursday morning." The Cipinang Jail?
So, it turns out this famous doctor is involved with some issues with his ex-wife, where due to marital disagreements and perhaps hurt feelings she is "buying the law" and has had him imprisoned for the past eight years! However, because he is viewed as a respectable man and he is a man of means, he has been able to continue to see clients and practice from inside bars. I and another therapist friend met him in the visiting room, and as I interviewed him about his practice we were surrounded by "corruptors" (those caught taking bribes mostly, still a huge issue in many aspects of Indonesian government and business), Nigerian drug smugglers, and actual terrorists, including some of those responsible for the Jakarta Marriott bombing, according to Dr. Rudy's wife. They were eating with their families, bouncing newborn babies, and making out with visiting girlfriends. Even the few wives covered in black from head to toe, with only a small opening for their eyes, were cuddling with their husbands.
It was surreal to say the least, for me to be speaking with this charismatic and intelligent man dressed in full Muslim garb, who couldn't have been more gracious and friendly, speaking perfect English and debating esoteric autism intervention methods and behaviorism theory, while sneaking peeks at the other visitors and inmates.
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