Interfaith forum to gather on Buddha Bar

Indonesia’s Interfaith Forum will hold a gathering of religious groups in a mosque in Jakarta on Saturday night to protest the establishment of the international restaurant chain Buddha Bar in the city.

“There will be representatives from Islam, Catholic and other religions,” said head of Indonesian Teravada Buddhist Assembly, Romo Samedho, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The gathering, which will be held in Cut Meutia Mosque in Central Jakarta starting 8 p.m., will be attended by Nahdatul Ulema spiritual leader Abdurrahman Wahid, and Catholic scholar Franz Magnis Suseno.

Samedho said protests against Buddha Bar would continue until the owners change the name of the restaurant and take out all symbolism of the Buddha from inside the venue. Such symbolism, he said, was inappropriate as Buddhist teachings never advised drinking alcoholic beverages and other types of hedonistic lifestyle.

“As long as they change the name and replace all the Buddhist symbolism, we couldn’t care less on what’s going on inside the restaurant,” he said. (and)