Buddha Bar Operator Challenges Jakarta Protest

Thursday, 26 March, 2009 | 17:15 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Owner of the new Buddha Bar chain in Jakarta challenged protesters to settle the matter of its controversial name through legal means. Spokesman for the French bar chain in Jakarta, Hasdur Hasan, said “Let the court decide whether or not we are wrong.”

The statement defies a series of protests launched by Buddhist community and a suggestion made by the Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni that the bar should be closed or change its name.

However chairman of the Council for Buddhist Youth Empowerment, a local buddhist organisation, Lieus Sungkharisma viewed the protests as unreasonable. “The protests were being politicized,” he said adding that such protest could deter investments. A member with the Provincial Legislative Council Nurmansjah Lubis said the matter is out of their authority.

The bar was opened late in 2008 with a launching ceremony led by the Jakarta governor, Fauzi Bowo. Housed in a dutch colonial era building at the heart of Jakarta up scale neighborhood, the bar is subject to another debate on its rights to operate a commercial public entertainment area in a building which was purchased and renovated by the city administration with almost US$ 2,9 million.

The bar is the fifth chain operated by the Paris-based George V Hotels and Ressorts, after branches in New York London, Dubai, and Kiev, and is the first in Asia, a region where Buddhism has substantial followers.

SOFIAN | GUARDIAN

Related Article:

Officials, Council say nothing wrong with Buddha Bar