No More Buddha Bar In Jakarta

After much protest from the Buddhist community, the owner of the Buddha Bar in Jakarta has decided to change it's name to Bistro Boulevard and the large Buddha statue inside the bar would be removed from the bar and sent to a Buddhist Vihara in Centre Jawa.

My earlier posts on this controversy here , here and here

A spokeswoman for the bar said " We have decided to send the large Buddha statue inside the bar to Yayasan Walubi, a Buddhist vihara. This is the best move to end this controversy "



The 4 meter Buddha statue, a symbol of the Buddha Bar was removed from the 2nd floor of the restaurant by 6 male adults after being separated into two parts.

The management of the Buddha Bar in Jakarta, PT Nireta Vista Creative has decided to end its franchise agreement with the Buddha Bar franchiser in France and adopted a new concept to avoid this controversy to deteriorate and to maintain religious harmony in the country.

Bistro Boulevard had its soft opening on April 18, 2011. The management has also created a new website in line with the new concept of the restaurant

The new website