Public building?: The building popularly known as the Old Immigration Office on Jl. Teuku Umar, Menteng, Central Jakarta, was purchased and renovated with taxpayer money, but now houses an upmarket bar and restaurant owned by the daughters of former top officials. JP/P.J. Leo

The Buddha Bar seems to be going through a lot lately: Buddhist students’ protests, questions about the public’s limited access, and, most recently, a request for an investigation into its permits.

Operating for less than four months, the only Asian branch of the French lounge chain Buddha Bar, occupying the historical former Immigration building in the posh area of Menteng, Central Jakarta, has caused uproar in the capital.

Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni even urged the restaurant management to close down the restaurant following protests from several Buddhist students; he said such a name would prompt other bars to take up names like “Christian Bar or Islam Bar”. The entire hullabaloo, however, did not seem to affect the running of the restaurant.

The signature Buddha Bar lounge music played in the dimly lit cocktail room on a recent Thursday night, while clientele from the corporate world wound down sipping Rp 95,000 (US$8) cocktails on plush sofas. Upstairs, the six-meter-tall Buddha statue towered over the cavernous high-ceilinged dining room that could seat 240 people.

The Indonesian Corruption Watch head of Monitoring and Investigation Agus Sunaryanto said that, the religious issue aside, the public should question the dodgy circumstances behind the transformation of the 96-year-old Old Dutch building into a high-class restaurant.

The building, once owned and abandoned by the son of former president Suharto, Hutomo Mandala Putra, was repurchased by the city administration for Rp 28.9 billion in 2001. The city poured another Rp 6.1 billion in to repair it.   

Buddha Bar is now jointly run by Renny Sutiyoso, the daughter of former governor Sutiyoso, who approved the restoration of the building, and the daughter of former president Megawati, Puan Maharani. The management of the bar rented the building for Rp 4 billion for five years.

“When we found out that Renny Sutiyoso was one of the owners, we were concerned that there had been a conflict of interest here. It is an asset of the city administration. There was a huge budget spent on the restoration and now the building is used by the private sector, in which the daughter of the former governor is involved,” Agus said.

“We hope that law enforcers have the initiative to investigate this.”

Buddha Bar manager Herry Prasetya refused to comment, saying that he was only responsible for the running of the restaurant.

Criticism also arises on the issue of the building’s accessibility for the general public, as its current function as a high-class restaurant prevents people from all walks of life entering it.  

The administration in 2005, promised to transform it into a “unique venue” for Jakartans to share. The city administration even held a competition to garner ideas for the usage of the building.

Dastin Hillery won the competition with an idea to utilize the building in its initial function as an art gallery. Suci Mayang Sari and Agus Surja Sadana were the runners-up, with ideas to utilize the building as a place for an architectural community and a restaurant with a 19th century feel, respectively.

Runner-up Agus said if the city administration teamed up with the private sector on the running of the building, it was understandable it had become a high-class restaurant. The reason, he said, was simply bad public transportation in the area.

“The location is not strategic, only people with private cars can reach the area easily,” he said.

Head of the city’s tourism agency Arie Budhiman said earlier the bar had an art gallery that was open to public. During the visit, however, The Jakarta Post only found a foyer displaying pictures of the building.

City councilor Selamat Nurudin from Commission E overseeing culture and education said that maintenance for museums and art galleries was very expensive and the city budget could not afford to utilize the building as such.

“That’s why the city rented it out and the money will be used for the maintenance and operation of other museums in Jakarta,” he said.

With the amount of money the bar’s management pays to the city administration, it would take them more than 40 years to compensate for the Rp 35 billion taxpayers had to shoulder to purchase and renovate the building.

The city administration, however, did not respond to the question of when the public building could be enjoyed by a wider public and not just those with deep pockets.

Ownership changes:

• From 1914 to 1942, the building was an art gallery, owned by the Dutch government.

• From 1942 to 1945, under the Japanese occupation, the building was the headquarters of Madjelis Islam Alaa.

• From  the 1950s to 1997, the building served as an immigration office for Central Jakarta.

• From 1998 to 2002, the building belonged to PT Mandala Griya Cipta, the company owned by the former president Soeharto’s son, Hutomo Mandala Putra.

• From 2002 till today, the building is the property of the Jakarta Board of Museum and History.

• From 2008 till present, the building houses the Buddha Bar.

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