“What’s next? A Mohammad Bar, a Jesus Bar?” he asked. “Please don’t use religion like this, it’s a very sensitive issue.”
The first Buddha Bar appeared in Paris in the mid-1990s. Indonesia is the fourth mainly Muslim country to get one, after Egypt, Lebanon and Dubai. So far none has been established in a Buddhist-majority country.
Visan said plans are afoot to open a Buddha Bar in Beijing and the company has “projects” in Singapore, where the authorities have approved the brand name, as well as in Hong Kong and Japan.
He denied rumors that the authorities in Buddhist Thailand had refused permission for the opening of a Buddha Bar in Bangkok, saying no such request had been made.
“We sell some discs there,” Visan added, referring to the Buddha Bar series of exotic music CDs, the 11th of which came out earlier this month. The company is also branching out into expensive spa treatments, dubbed “Buddhattitude.”
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