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Holywings bar chain shut after blasphemy charges over drinks promotion
Critics have said Indonesia's strict blasphemy laws are being used to erode a long-standing reputation for tolerance and diversity in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.
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This picture taken on June 24, 2022 shows members of an Islamic organisation holding a protest in front of the Holywings bar in Jakarta. Indonesian police arrested six people on charges of blasphemy over a bar chain's free alcohol promotion for patrons named Mohammed, officials said late on June 24, in a case that has sparked outrage in the Muslim-majority country. (AFP/Ardikta Nugroho)
T
he Jakarta City administration stripped Holywings bar and restaurant chain in Jakarta, of its operating permit after police charged six employees with blasphemy over a promotion offering free drinks for people named Muhammad or Maria.
Critics have said Indonesia's strict blasphemy laws are being used to erode a long-standing reputation for tolerance and diversity in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.
The drinks promotion at the Holywings chain prompted a police investigation after complaints by religious groups. The six were charged under the blasphemy law, which can be punished by up to five years in jail, and a blasphemy provision of the internet law, which carries a maximum 10-year jail term.
In a social media post that was later deleted, the chain offered a free bottle of gin for men named Muhammad and women named Maria every Thursday.
On Tuesday, 12 outlets in the capital were sealed off after authorities said they did not have licences to serve alcohol, the Jakarta administration said in a statement on its website.
Holywings Indonesia has apologised for the promotion, which it said was created without the knowledge of management.
Police said the employees created the promotion in attempt to meet sales targets.
Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the blasphemy law and a law regulating online activity was becoming "increasingly dangerous".
"These six individuals just made an alcohol promotion, maybe ridiculous in this increasingly Islamic country, but no crime at all according to international standards," he said.
The blasphemy law has mostly been used against those deemed to have insulted Islam, including Jakarta's former Christian governor Basuki "Ahok" Purnama, who was sentenced to two years in prison in 2017 on blasphemy on charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Indonesia has jailed more than 150 people, mostly from religious minorities, since the blasphemy law was passed in 1965, based on data collated by Human Rights Watch.
