No Buddha Bar: Hundreds of Buddhist Students Association members demonstrate in front of Buddha-Bar restaurant on Jl.Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta, calling on its management to change the name of the outlet. (JP/P.J. Leo)

March 5, Online

Dozens of Buddhist college students sealed an exclusive lounge and restaurant-type bar in Central Jakarta, after negotiating with the bar’s management. ”We’ve sealed the Buddha Bar and it will remain closed until the matter is resolved. The management team has also agreed not to open the bar,” Indonesian Buddhist Students Association (AMB) representative Widodo said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Your comments:

They should just change the name to Budda Bar. Buddha Bar in Paris is an institution, a beautiful place enjoyed by everyone, including Buddhists. It’s only a name for a bar, not a temple for worship, unless of course you worship a martini or two. Why does every issue in this country have to end in some religious controversy?

Jerrid

So what’s next, are the shopping malls going to be forced by Christian groups to remove their Christmas decorations because consumerism is diametrically opposed to Christian theology? Are Hindu’s going to object to McDonald’s selling burgers made with beef?

What about the Buddha Bar in Bangkok and Tokyo? Are they being forced to close because of the outcry there?

Religion is a set of personal beliefs that you chose to live your life by. It in no way gives you any right to impose the orthodoxies of your faith on anyone else. This is not about religion or Buddhism, the fact that Buddha Bars remain open in predominately Buddhist countries is evidence of that. This is about intolerance, which is the only thing that the various religions in Indonesia seem to have in common.

K Highlander

Personally, I think the George V restaurant chain has gone beyond making Buddha merely a marketing concept.

In Buddhism, it is clearly written that drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden, yet in this bar, people drink in front of the big Buddha statue.

What makes matters worse is the restaurant chain has now come out with not only the Buddha Bar, but the Buddha Bar Hotel, the Buddhattitude Spa, Siddharta Cafe, Karma Cafe, and even records like Siddharta Vol I-III, with titles like “Chain of Fools” which offensively portray Siddharta. I would say it is an insult to Buddha and Buddhism.

Molly

Very surprised that the management agreed to this, as I don’t!

Are these Buddhists with borders? What about the other bars around the world?

What about Borobodur? The Buddhists let that die out, which is worse.

What about the Buddha figures you can buy on any Bangkok street, are they not done in jest? A name change?

I don’t think that will change anything, it would be like calling Burger King something else.

Keith Harding

The word “Buddha”, means “awakened”, Buddhists do not idolize Buddha statues. We cannot ask for favors from Buddha. We use the statue of the Buddha to remind us of his teaching. The teaching brought to us by royal-born Gautama Siddharta, whose teachings tell us to travel along the middle path and avoid extremes, we call “dharma”, which means “truth”.

Is the Buddha bar offensive to Buddhists? Not any more offensive than any other bars and businesses with personal shrines in them, as can be seen in many Buddhist countries.

However, to blatantly use the statue and the symbolism of the fully awakened Buddha as a marketing and selling point, and to use it purely for the promotion of non-Buddhist values, that I disagree with.

But being Buddhist we have tolerance and compassion, we believe in peaceful settlements of issues, never has blood been spilt in the name of Buddhism.

More than 2,500 years of peaceful teaching. That is something all religions, including Christians and Muslims, should reflect on as they bay for blood, revenge killing, bombings and maiming of innocents in the name of God.

Giac Tri

I am a Muslim and I happen to collect the Buddha Bar CDs (they’re amazing, especially the first ones by DJ Claude Challe!). However, I really understand and respect Buddhists’ concerns regarding the Buddha Bar in Jakarta.

I have never been there, but I have been to the one in Paris, and it’s true there are lots of Buddhist images and artifacts around the lounge. They even have a giant Buddha statue at the center of the restaurant.

If this is what is found in the Buddha Bar in Jakarta, then it’s totally understandable that Buddhists see this as blasphemy.

Perhaps it’s equivalent to placing a copy of the Ka’baa in the middle of a bar, or building a lounge interior with Islamic artistic designs, which would really disturb Muslims!

Buddhism is one of our country’s official religions, so I think it is important to respect their concerns.

Riz

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