When a Caddie isn’t Just a Caddie

In her two months of training, Elin was taught that besides carrying golf bags her main duties were to calculate the approximate distances to holes and advise on club selection. But it didn’t take her long to learn that it takes more to flourish in Jakarta as a golf caddie.

“Many promiscuous golfers come here,” the 25-year-old said, wearing a radiant blue-and-yellow uniform, which included an oversized visor with a flower motif. “They will hold our hands, ask us to give them a massage, and sometimes they will touch our bodies.”

Female caddies have been drawing increased attention in Indonesia since March, following the high-profile murder of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, allegedly masterminded by Antasari Azhar, the now suspended chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

There has been a great deal of speculation that the case involved Rani Juliani, 22, who was allegedly caught up in a love triangle with Nasrudin and Antasari. Rani was a caddie at Modernland Golf Course in Tangerang, Banten, where she  met the two men.

Aside from her alleged involvement in murder and scandal, the idea that Rani was romantically involved with her customers has cast a negative light on female caddies by giving the public the impression that all or most of them sometimes take their work home with them.

Evi, the owner of a small boutique in South Jakarta, is one of the many people who have been following Rani’s case in the media.

She said she now perceived caddie as “just another profession that can be abused by young women to earn money illegitimately.”

Fran H. Djyaatmadja, the vice treasurer of the Indonesian Golf Association, said in early May that the image of the “naughty” caddie was undeniable, and that affairs between golfers and caddies in Indonesia were not uncommon, according to the Vivanews news portal.

The management of Modernland declined to comment on the issue due to its sensitive nature. And the management of another club known for its female caddies, Cengkareng Golf Club, was not immediately available for comment. But Indra Herisman, the manager of the Bogor Raya Golf Course, was willing to explain the golf course’s decision to hire only female caddies.

“Psychologically, women are better at serving [the golfers],” he said. “They are a big selling point.”

Indra said reports of sexual relationships between caddies and golfers had been greatly exaggerated — at least at Bogor Raya. “We embrace professionalism to the highest degree,” he said.

However, he said he could not absolutely guarantee there was no employee misconduct at Bogor Raya because of the sheer number of staff.

Elin, who has worked as a caddie at a golf club on the outskirts of Jakarta since January 2008, receives a monthly salary from the management of the golf course, but acknowledged that the majority of her income was derived from tips. On average, she said that she received Rp 200,000 ($19) per round from players. She works six days a week, and sometimes two rounds a day.

“When we’re assigned to a rich businessman or a high-ranking government official, you can get somewhere between Rp 500,000 and Rp 1.5 million,” Elin said.

She said that some of her co-workers were more flirtatious than others. “As far as I know, some girls just want to make extra money,” she said.

The atmosphere at the golf course is sexually charged in a way that can be demeaning or offensive, Elin said.

She said that one time, there was a golfer who unabashedly groped a caddie. She stopped carrying his bag and reported him to the clubhouse for misconduct. Players can be banned from a club for repeated offenses of this nature.

“When things like that happen, it’s really up to us how we respond,” she said, adding that she had never gone beyond her official course duties with a player.

“Some caddies don’t mind being groped on the course, and some are even willing to go out on a date with a player.”

Another female caddie, Vivi, has worked six days a week at a golf course in Banten since she graduated from college four years ago. “You can tell what they’re trying to do,” said Vivi, 24. “They start with a conversation, then ask where I live, my phone number, and then they will ask ‘What time do you go home? Can you go out with me?’ ”

Some golfers are bolder. “Some will just pat my buttocks,” she said. “And one time, this guy came up to me and asked me to go with him for Rp 5 million.”

Vivi said she always refused players’ advances for fear things might end badly. But she said she never rebuked her clients. Instead, she tries to use humor to defuse the situation.

“We have to be nice and friendly to the players,” she said. “It’s part of our job. And I’m hoping that through my friendliness, I can get bigger tips.”

Vivi is not disturbed by the public’s negative perception of female caddies.

“People must have known about these kinds of things for a long time,” she said. “It is quite irritating that people now know golf — especially the caddies — just for its negative sides.”

Despite the nature of her job and the reputation for promiscuity that comes with it, Elin said quitting was not an option. Being a caddie was her way out from her previous job as a counter girl at a clothes store.

“I used to make less than Rp 1 million and now I’m earning much more than that,” she said.

Sporting a black T-shirt and khaki shorts, David, not his real name, had just finished practicing his swing at a driving range in the Central Business District in South Jakarta. He is a banker and likes to spend his weekends at golf courses around Jakarta.

In Indonesia, he said, it is common for golf clubs to employ beautiful young women to attract male customers.

“The employees at golf courses in Bogor, West Java, especially,” David said. “They’re known for their beauty.”

David admitted that he enjoyed having a caddie who did more than just carry his bag. “You spend four to five hours on the green with them,” David said. “At some point, the game gets boring. So, it’s kind of good to have a caddie who is friendly.”

David defines friendly as a woman he can talk to; the type who would massage a player’s tight muscles and go no further.

“Their basic salary is very low and they live on tips,” he said. “Being friendly and flirtatious is the only way they can get bigger tips from the players.”

Players and caddies often exchange phone numbers, he said, and some caddies use this opportunity to flirt with golfers outside their working hours.

“I’ve received text messages from caddies I’ve used, saying things like ‘What are you doing,’ ‘When are you going to play again?’ and sometimes ‘When are you going to take me out on a date?’ ”

It is not uncommon for chemistry to build between a player and a caddie, to the extent that the former would request the latter whenever he played, David said.

He said he had acquaintances who had taken the player-caddie relationship beyond the 18th hole, making them what he referred to as “pet caddies.”

“Pay them Rp 500,000 to 1 million and they’re more than willing to do you favors,” he said. “One time, I was playing with this guy who told me about all the caddies he’d had sex with. He said he had even taken some of the girls to Bali.”

David said had never gone beyond the proper client-caddie relationship.

However, he admitted it was good to have someone to joke around with.

“You spend long hours on the green — four to five hours,” he said. “Sometimes it’s pretty stressful.”

Not all golfers share the same view as David. Yogi Arief Nugraha, an executive producer at TV station RCTI, said the public should avoid stereotyping caddies. To start with, he said, not all golf courses have an all-female-caddie policy.

“Let’s not forget that not all caddies are female,” Yogi said. “Ever since the Rani case, people might have the tendency to think that all caddies are female.”

The place where he usually golfs employs only male caddies, and some courses have mixed staff. He said that when he played golf, he preferred to have a male caddie with him.

“Golf is full of rules and regulations,” he said, adding that male caddies were much more experienced than female ones because many of them actually played golf.

“Whether a caddie is male or female, people need to understand that they’re being trained professionally. It’s true there are promiscuous caddies, and we cannot close our eyes. But caddies were not created to satisfy golfers’ lust.”

Feeling the Dollar Pinch

Awis Mranani, an Indonesian journalism student at Towson University in Maryland, had been thoroughly enjoying American college life.

She shopped seasonally as the weather changed from freezing cold to blazing hot, spent about $10 on a cinema ticket whenever a new blockbuster was released and frequented a range of restaurants to satisfy her culinary tastes, with a particular fondness for American, Thai and Korean dishes.

But things have changed for her since financial disaster hit the United States in 2008, and the knock-on effects spread to the rest of the world.

“Even though I love Korean food so much,” said the 21-year-old, “I now have to stick to chicken nuggets and fried eggs.” She is also limiting her spending on movies, and now opts to wait until the movies she wants to see can be downloaded.

Last, but not least, Awis has had to curtail her clothes shopping. “There are so many cute sandals and dresses that I would love to buy, but now it is just impossible to own them,” she said, adding that her parents will no longer consider topping up her bank account if she empties it before the month ends. “I guess no more gladiator sandals for me.”

The impact of the global economic downturn has affected the daily lives of Indonesians currently studying in the United States. The rupiah has depreciated against the US dollar, while some tuition fees and textbook prices have gone up. Their living expenses have increased significantly, students say, so it is inevitable that many have had to alter their lifestyles.

Danurdoro Kreshna Murti, known as Danur, is a senior at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and president of the Indonesian Students Association in the greater Washington area. “As international students, it is obvious that the recession affects our daily lives,” Danur said. “The economic downturn is epidemic.”

The 22-year-old political science major said that the amount of money his parents have been sending him has reduced significantly in dollar terms. “It leaves me adjusting my monthly expenses to things that are considered necessities, resulting in less room to wiggle around to buy other things for my leisure time and my hobbies,” he said.

Worse, with the rupiah no longer worth as much in the United States, some Indonesian students have had to postpone their studies.

Danur said that he knows at least two Indonesian students in the greater Washington area whose academic careers have suffered because of money worries.

“One student, a member of the association, had been going to a private university,” he said. “But next year, he is moving to a community college,” where the tuition is much cheaper.

Another student in Maryland recently graduated from community college, and had planned to enroll in a private university in the Baltimore area. But he had to postpone his studies, Danur said, and is currently working as a chef in an attempt to make enough money to attend university.

Others have at the very least been forced to become more financially aware. Edmund Handjaja, 22, a junior at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said he has reduced his credit card spending, has shorter phone conversations to lower his bills and pays more attention the amount of electricity he uses.

“With the economic crisis,” he said, “I tend to be more aware of my spending, and try to limit myself from buying luxury goods.”

Marie Jasmine, who also studies in Massachussetts, said the economic downturn hasn’t affected her significantly, but it has forced slight adjustments in her lifestyle. “I used to have an Internet connection plan on my cell phone [which cost $35 per month],” she said. “But now I have stopped the plan.”

Marie has also stopped buying coffee from a shop every morning. “Instead, I try to brew my own coffee at home.”

Townson student Awis now buys generic brands when grocery shopping, as they are usually much cheaper than branded products. “I now realize that CVS body wash moisturizes just as well as Dove,” she said. The former, a generic brand produced by CVS drugstore, retails for about $6.69, while the well-known branded product costs about $8.69.

Another area where international students are feeling increased costs is transportation.
Danur owns a Volkswagen sedan and said he travels more than 400 kilometers a week. His increased costs are two-fold, he said, as both gas and car maintenance cost him more when converted to rupiah.

Exchange rates aside, Danur said standard labor rates and general maintenance fees have gone up significantly, especially in the past three months. “The price to change oil, to change spare parts and the labor fee has increased by 10 to 15 percent.”

Danur needs to fill his car’s tank at least twice a week, which he said costs about $30 each time, with gas costing an average of $2.25 per gallon in Maryland. “The end result would have to be either I travel around town less, or I try to get free rides from my brother,” he said.

Those who use public transportation are not immune to such cost increases either. Wina Wirsatyo, 19, lives and studies in New York City, where the streets are constantly crammed with cars, mostly the ubiquitous yellow cabs. She usually rides the subway or buses.

“I usually purchase a 30-day unlimited metro card for $81,” she said. But this month there will be a 50-cent jump in subway and bus fares, and a $22 increase on the monthly metro card. “That will certainly cut a few dollars out of the monthly expenses that my parents give me.”

Another New York-based student, Aisha Parlindungan, 22, attends two dance classes in the US metropolis. The first, “Saung Budaya,” is a traditional Indonesian group that charges $10 per class. She also attends “Step Broadway” jazz or hip-hop classes on the Upper East Side, at $17 per session. 
Aisha, who is president of the Indonesian Students Association in New York, used to attend two “Step Broadway” and one “Saung Budaya” classes a week. “Now, I only go out dancing like twice a month in order to save up,” she said.

Aisha has found a silver lining to the financial clouds, however, in that international airfare prices have decreased. (Business Travel News has reported that first-quarter international airfares decreased by 12 percent.) Taking full advantage of the cheaper fares, Aisha traveled to London and Amsterdam for her recent spring break.

“I needed the time off from my hectic schedule,” she said. “Unfortunately, now I am flat broke since I splurged in pounds sterling and euros.”

Atya Sardadi, who goes to Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, said that the current economic climate has forced her to cut down on shopping sprees. She admitted that when she first came to the US, she was a frequent customer of many shops. But now, she has cut back on luxuries, particularly clothes shopping. “Sometimes, not even once a month,” said Atya, 21. She now buys on eBay, or waits for sales, where original prices are sometimes slashed by more than 50 percent.

Glend Worung goes to a public university in Long Beach, California. A self-proclaimed music buff, he used to spend a significant portion of his allowance buying CDs and vinyl records for his collection. At an average of $10 a record, he used to buy around 30 records every month in addition to CDs.

But he said that with the current conditions, the financial help from his parents has been reduced. Consequently, he limits himself to buying only 10 or 15 records per month, and instead exploits technology that allows him to download music for free.

Aside from being more careful in their spending, some students have taken part-time jobs as a way to deal with the financial crisis.

Recovering clothes shopper Atya took a job as a student assistant at the school’s computer lab for about 15 hours a week, for an hourly rate of $7.50.

“I have quite a tight monthly budget, so I have to be extremely thrifty,” Atya said. Earning about $300 per month, she said: “My priority is to utilize the money for gas, international phone cards and phone bills. Eating out and entertainment come after.”

Even some of those students who have not been significantly affected have changed their perspective on conspicuous consumption.

Melisa Kristianto, 21, is a senior at Boston University, Massachusetts. She said that her parents have not reduced her overall college budget but that she has taken the initiative to cut down on her own expenses. “Right now, I might be doing just fine,” she said. “But you never know when the crisis will really directly affect you and your family.

“Eating and trying out new culinary hotspots is one of my greatest passions,” she said. “But in days like these, when many people are losing their jobs, companies are filing for bankruptcies and threats of business failure are everywhere, it discourages me from spending big bucks on food.

“It just doesn’t feel right to spend excessively during a recession where people are losing their homes and their jobs.”

Brandeis student Edmund Handjaja has also found positives out of the negative economic climate.
“It has taught me to have a greater sense of gratitude,” he said. “Everywhere I go, these days, I hear people talking about how grateful they are, whether they are expressing their appreciation for their work, having a warm, dry home, or earning enough money to pay for groceries.

“It makes me realize even more that I am fortunate enough to be given the chance to study in the States.”

Awis, who no longer shops seasonally or frequents Korean restaurants as often as she did, said that in order to pay for her tuition, her parents have had to borrow money.

“Such a situation gives me pressure not to fail,” she said. “In the beginning I felt sorry about it. But then, it has become an encouragement to me. It actually gives me more reason to study more effectively and seriously.”

Young Minds Changing the World

This year’s World Summit Youth Award winners will present their Internet-based projects to government and business leaders during the United Nations Global Forum on Information and Communications in June. 

Fifteen youth-led projects that use the Internet to bring the world closer to reaching the United Nations Millennium Development Goals were recognized last month and named winners of the awards.

The competition involves people under the age of 30 who are actively engaged in making the world a better place through digital and mobile content, ranging from interactive Web sites, smartphone applications and online gaming.

“While many leaders of the world fight the banking and economic crisis, young people fight the everyday crises in their communities and show that the Millennium Development Goals must be acted on concretely,” Peter A. Bruck, chairman of the Austrian-based World Summit Award, said in a press release.

This year, there were more than 600 entries from more than 100 countries that underwent a three-round adjudication process by a panel of 20 jurors with expertise in the realm of youth engagement, new media and social entrepreneurship.

There were five main categories in which the contestants competed, and there were three winners from each category. Austrian duo Andreas Jakl and Gerald Madlmayr won an award in the Fight Poverty, Hunger & Disease! category. Their project, called Mobile Doctor, is a mobile application that assists people in developing countries to instantly find nearby hospitals or medical assistance.

A winner in the education category, Alternatives: Finding New Possibilities for Youth, is a Nepal-based interactive Web site run by a group of young social entrepreneurs aiming to empower Nepalese youth to bring change to the country. Its has so far put on training sessions in leadership, tourism and media for the youth in rural areas.

In the category dedicated to empowering women, Gholamzadeh Hamid Reza, a 27-year-old Iranian man, came up with an online magazine titled Dokhtiran: e-Magazine on Women’s Rights. Iran has received much international criticism for its treatment of women; the objective of the e-magazine is to inform women of their basic rights and to critically discuss judicial, cultural, political and educational rules affecting their lives.

The US-based smartphone application The Extraordinaries won an award in the cultural creation category for promoting the culture of volunteering. Founded by Jacob Colker and Ben Rigby, the crowd-sourcing application allows smartphone users to spend a few minutes micro-volunteering. So far, they have been able to help immigrants improve their English, translate subtitles for human rights videos and help Cornell University collect data on urban birds.

In the going green category, three Dutch youths were recognized for their online computer game called “The Guardian of Eden.” The game is about a boy tasked with restoring the natural balance of the earth, and aims to educate children about environmental responsibility.

Bruck said, “The winning projects show how the world can be made a better place when the Millennium Development Goals do not remain just a government or a distant UN agenda.”

List of Winners 

Fight Poverty, Hunger & Disease!  
“Lil’ MDGs: Kids Making Changes,” Dylan Mahalingam, 
www.lilmdgs.org

“Remote Patient Monitoring System with Focus on Antenatal Care,” Ajay Kumar Tanwani, 
http://rpms.nexginrc.org 

“Mobile Doctor,” 
Andreas Jakl, Gerald Madlmayr, Austria, 
www.symbianresources.com/projects/mobiledoc.php  

Education for All! 
“Everything on HIV and AIDS in Iran,” Morteza Mishir Sinaei, Iran, 
www.iranhivaids.com

“Alternatives: Finding New Possibilities for Youth,” Sanjeev Raj Neupane, Nepal,
 www.alternatives.com.np 

“Voices of Africa for Sustainable Development,” Crystal Kigoni, Kenya, 
www.voicesofafrica.org

Power 2 Women!
“Dokhtiran: e-Magazine on Women’s Rights,” Gholamzadeh Hamid Reza, Iran,www.dokhtiran.com

“The Sisters 4 Peace Network,” Sejal Hathi, USA, 
www.sisters4peace.net

“Empower Women and Meet Millennium Challenges,” George Onyango, Kenya, 
www.sidarec.org 

Create Your Culture!
“Roots & Routes TV,” Aileen Wessely, Germany, 
www.rootsnroutes.tv

 “Savvy Chavvy,” Christy McAleese, Britain, 
www.savvychavvy.com

“The Extraordinaries,” 
Jacob Colker, USA,
www.beextra.org 

Go Green!
“Sewer Tourism,” Andrew Mutua, Kenya, 
www.nariobits.com/students  

“Greenlighted,” Vladimir Dubovskiy, USA, 
www.greenlighted.com 

 “Guardian of Eden,” Ricardo Quirante Martinez, Netherlands, 
www.guardianofeden.nl

The ‘Straightener’ of History

On March 28, 2007, hundreds of protesters under the umbrella of Gerakan Anti-Komunis, or the Anti-Communist Movement, arrived at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in South Jakarta aboard Metromini buses.

They had come to publicly denounce the institute for allegedly seeking to revive communism in Indonesia, an ideology that President Suharto sought to wipe out in the late-1960s when he introduced to the country what was later to become known as the New Order. There was one particular person the demonstrators were looking for: Asvi Warman Adam.

Recalling the day in his cozy home in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, Asvi did not see the incident as discouraging.

“A lot of groups oppose what I have been doing,” said the 54-year-old historian, who still sometimes receives late-night phone calls threatening his wife and children. “That means my work has made an impact.”

The protesters demanded that Asvi discontinue his efforts to correct mistakes in the version of Indonesian history that is widely accepted and taught in state schools.

Following the fall of Suharto in 1998, Asvi dedicated himself to the intellectual movement he calls pelurusan sejarah, or the straightening of history.

He believes the ruling powers have attempted to absolve themselves of responsibility for the past by presenting untruthful accounts as historical fact. “Indonesian history was written uniformly by men in uniform,” Asvi said.

In what he terms the militarization of history, Asvi said the New Order regime wrote and controlled the version of Indonesian history that is conveyed through school textbooks, national monuments and museums.

Asvi saw the breakdown of the authoritarian regime in May 1998 as an opportunity to create a more accurate, scholarly and impartial picture of Indonesian history, a process that he considers to be an essential part of the democratization of the country.

“By having more than one understanding of history, people can debate and discuss which version makes more sense. This helps in forming a critical and democratic society,” he said.

Asvi has written numerous books, articles and essays debunking the New Order regime’s accounts of historic events, particularly the circumstances surrounding the unsuccessful coup of Sept. 30, 1965, which led to the political demise of the founding president, Sukarno.

The New Order said the coup was orchestrated by the Indonesian Communist Party, using that to justify an anti-Communist purge in which more than half a million people may have been killed.

“The 1965 incident was a watershed in Indonesia’s history,” Asvi said. “Looking at it politically, economically, and culturally, it brought about drastic and fundamental changes.”

The official account of the 1965 coup is a salient example of the way in which Suharto used history to condone his iron- fisted rule, Asvi said.

For years, he said, the coup was used to awaken a fear of “the enemy,” meaning anyone who opposed the government.

“History was merely used to legitimize his [Suharto’s] accession to power and consolidate his rule,” Asvi said.

His books include “Suharto Sisi Gelap Sejarah Indonesia” (Suharto, the Dark Side of Indonesian History), “Seabad Kontroversial Sejarah” (A Decade of Controversial History) and “Membongkar Manipulasi Sejarah” (Unraveling History’s Manipulation).

Earlier this year, Kompas published an anthology of articles Asvi has written for the newspaper. It has so far sold more than 10,000 copies.

Events in Indonesian history that Asvi is currently re-examining include the attack on Dutch troops in Yogyakarta on March 1, 1949, and the Jan. 15, 1974, Malari incident — abbreviated from Malapetaka Lima Belas January, or the Tragedy of January 15th — in which Suharto’s men quashed a mass student protest, turning it into a bloody riot.

In June, Asvi will be a speaker at a conference, titled “The Indonesian Killings Revisited, 1965-66,” at the National University of Singapore, joining renowned Indonesianists such as Robert Cribb, Anthony Reid and Kate McGregor in the largest meeting of scholars on the subject.

In much of his work, Asvi not only refutes the New Order’s version of events, but also looks at history from the point of view of victims.

“History cannot be written just by the winners, we should also give the other side a chance,” said Asvi, referring to the victims of the 1965-66 anti-Communist violence.

In terms of the people’s reaction to his sort of struggle, Asvi believes that he has seen significant progress since the advent of the reform era.

“For 32 years, there was a taboo against questioning the government’s version of history,” Asvi said. “Now they’re being offered something unheard of. Society wants to know what has been kept hidden from them.”

Asvi did not begin his academic career as a historian. He graduated from the University of Indonesia in 1980 with a degree in French literature and, after a short stint working as a sports journalist for Sportif magazine, became a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in 1983. A year later, he was invited to teach Indonesian language at a university in Paris.

It was in France that he became interested in history. Aside from teaching, he decided to pursue a doctorate at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socialies. Under the tutelage of the renowned Asianist Denys Lombard, Asvi spent six years writing a dissertation on the relationship between the Dutch East Indies and Indochina during the colonial era.

In 1990, he came home to reassume his position at the institute of sciences.

Six years later, Masyarakat Sejarawan Indonesia, or the Indonesian Historians Community, designated him as the head of education affairs.

When Suharto abdicated in 1998, Asvi was contacted by newspapers, academics and members of the public, who challenged him to re-examine the New Order version of Indonesian history.

That same year he was invited by a Christian group — a group of men and women in their 60s and 70s —to speak to victims and survivors of the anti-Communist purge of 1965-66.

“They asked me to tell them about the September 30 Movement,” he recalled. “At the end of the lecture, you could see that sorrow was not the only thing emanating from them. They were very eager to know what actually happened.”

After he delivered his speech, some of the victims came up to him and gave him about Rp 30,000 in rumpled notes, collected by the victims, thanking him for his willingness to share his thoughts with them.

“It was a moment when I felt like I had to help them,” he said. “For victims like them, the straightening of history is a healing process. Not a single day passes when I don’t think about them.”

Asvi said that determining the identities of the masterminds of the 1965 coup was secondary to doing something about the impact of the suppression that followed, which has had an inter-generational impact.

“I have a friend, a political analyst,” he said. “After decades of knowing him, only recently did he reveal to me that both of his parents were [exiled during the 1960s].

“Millions of people had to hide their true identities due to their association with a communist past.”

Before he met the victims, Asvi said, his journey into the world of history was merely for academic purposes. But for the past 10 years, he has written his articles with empathy for the victims of a dark chapter in Indonesian history.

“History should no longer be exploited as an instrument of oppression. It should be utilized as a means of liberation,” Asvi said.

Cinema Dining Experience Offers More Than Popcorn and Hot Dogs

Have you ever been in such a rush to catch a movie you haven’t had time to eat? Ever tried to sneak in your own food, even though you know it’s not allowed? I sure have. Many times.

So when the opportunity arose to try out the new Dining Cinema at Blitz Megaplex in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, I enthusiastically accepted.

“This is the first dining cinema in Indonesia, where the customers can enjoy a full-course lunch or dinner while watching their favorite movies,” said Antonia Niken, the Blitz Megaplex marketing supervisor. “It’s like going to a restaurant inside a movie theater.”

Here’s how it works: You buy the movie ticket, choose a seat and order your meal, all at the ticket counter.

Only one movie a day offers the dining special, and it’s shown twice, at 12:30 p.m. for lunch and 7 p.m. for dinner.

The movie showing the Wednesday afternoon I went was Disney’s “Race to Witch Mountain,” about two human-looking aliens who land on earth in an effort to prevent it from being invaded by the military of their dying planet.

Even though the movie was not to my taste, I had high hopes for the food that was about to be dished up. I was given the choice of two Western and two Korean set menus.

“We are aware that the menu options are considerably limited,” Niken said, “but we’re planning to expand it.”

The Western set menus cost Rp 60,000, and the Korean menus cost 
Rp 80,000, which is reasonable, considering that each meal includes six or seven items.

I opted for a Korean meal as a hot dog or burger just wasn’t as novel an idea for me. When I walked into the theater, I breathed in an air of exclusivity: There were only 32 seats, all of them reclined and comfortably soft with plenty of space around them.

The individual tables can be conveniently pushed out of the way after the meal, which meant I could sit back and relax once I was done.

The food was served before the movie, during the previews and advertisements, which was a bonus, because it meant that the waiters would not be getting in anyone’s way. My Korean set menu was neatly presented in a bento box, and comprised bulgogi , thin slices of tender and flavorsome marinated beef, japche , pan-fried thin clear noodles mixed with beef and vegetables, and banchan , small side dishes. The package also included a bowl of hot soup, honey citron tea, which was particularly delightful, and a small plate of fresh fruit for dessert.

As soon as the movie started, I began devouring my meal. The idea of savoring a full Korean meal while watching a movie on the silver screen instead of on the little black box I have at home was quite exciting.

I was satisfied once I had finished, but the dishes weren’t all that impressive; they were similar to the kind of Korean dishes you might find in a mall food court — perhaps I should have gone with the hot dog.

The theater was dimly lit, and trying to give my full attention to the movie while eating a meal that I couldn’t get down in three bites, like a hot dog, was not as easy as I thought. (Although considering I was watching “Race to Witch Mountain,” I didn’t mind missing a scene or two.)

If I had been watching a movie a little more complex than your usual Disney flick, I would have had to wolf down my food just to focus on the plot — and that would have undermined the whole point of the experience.

All in all, dining cinema is a good concept and offers something new to Jakartans tired of the same old mall experience.

But for a regular moviegoer like myself, who prefers to give a film my undivided attention, I’ll be sticking to a popcorn and Coke from now on.

Ryan’s Killer Charm

There was not much happening at Depok District Court in West Java early on Monday afternoon. Inside the dimly lit courthouse holding cell, three men dressed in white sat impassively waiting for their court sessions. Two armed police guards in brown uniforms sat comfortably behind a dark wooden table at the front of the room.

At around 1 p.m., about a dozen high school students, mostly girls, entered the courthouse and went straight to where the three men sat. The guards looked undisturbed, even when the group invaded their territory, leaning on the table and taking over an unoccupied chair. They were there to see Verry Idam Henyasyah, the alleged serial killer better known as Ryan, who has confessed to killing 11 people in a brutal murder spree.

The scene was a first for Indonesia but followed a pattern seen in the United States as early as 1895, when one of the country’s earliest recorded serial killers, William Henry Theodore Durrant, went on trial. Dozens of women attended the trial to gaze at the defendant, becoming the first in a phenomenon in which brutal male killers inspire devotion in women referred to as “serial killer groupies.” Charles Manson persuaded the groupies in his “family” to kill for him, and Florida serial killer Ted Bundy had many female followers, including one whom he “married” during his trial. Now Ryan is attracting his own female following.

After a few minutes standing quietly watching Ryan in his courthouse cell, one of the girls called out to him, “Can you please sing for us?”

Ryan smiled at the group and calmly said, “Not today. I’m a bit tired.” The girls looked disappointed, but remained regardless, talking with the prisoner as the boys accompanying them hung quietly in the background.

Beneath the good looks and charming smile, Ryan is a self-confessed killer of 11 people, including a 3-year-old girl. He allegedly bludgeoned 10 of his victims to death before burying them in the backyard of his parents’ house in Jombang, East Java Province. He is currently standing trial for the murder of Heri Santoso in Depok, West Java. Prosecutors allege Ryan stabbed Heri repeatedly and killed him by skewering him with a crowbar, before cutting the body into seven pieces and dumping the remains in a field in South Jakarta.

At a hearing on March 23, prosecutors charged Ryan with murder in the first degree and sought the death penalty. His defense lawyers argued on Monday that Ryan was “temporarily insane” when he killed Heri and the murder was not premeditated. The Criminal Code does not recognize temporary insanity but the defense lawyers argue that Ryan “should not be held responsible for his crime.” Regardless of the verdict, which is expected on Monday, Ryan must still face trial for the other 10 murders.

On Monday afternoon, Ryan was in court to hear his lawyers present their arguments in his defense. As with his previous two appearances, he was first visited by the teenagers who have become his “supporters.”

“Initially, we were scared of him,” said 16-year-old Deva, not her real name. “But after a while, not anymore. And it’s not like he would strangle us in front of so many people.”

The high school girls are interns at a local government office near the district court, and have visited Ryan in the holding cell all three times he has appeared at trial over the past month. The first time they went, they just wanted to see the accused killer, they said. But then, an unlikely friendship grew between them.

In an all-white high school uniform, Eca, who refused to give her real name, said, “Initially, I just wanted to see what a person like Ryan would look like.” Asked about her first impression of Ryan, she replied, “He’s actually handsome. Too bad he’s a killer.”

“Not only is he handsome,” Eca, 16, added, “he’s also very nice. He doesn’t mind taking pictures with us. And he sings for us, too.” Eca proudly said that last week, she took a picture of herself beside Ryan in his cell, got his autograph and listened to him sing.

Three girls took pictures of Ryan using their cellphones. One of them whispered to her friend, “Ryan’s fine, don’t you think? He looks like [former President] Sukarno in what he’s wearing right now.” At the time, Ryan was sporting a long white shirt, black pants and a black peci, a fez-like Indonesian traditional hat.

One girl asked for Ryan’s autograph, as if he were an up-and-coming celebrity. A police officer jokingly told her,

“Here, I’ll give you a piece of paper, and I’ll let you in to get his autograph. I dare you.” The girl smiled hesitantly, fear written over her face, and shyly gave the police a “No, thanks” look.

Others stood observing the prisoner quietly, seemingly enjoying the experience of being in close proximity to such an infamous man. “I’m just curious,” said one curly-haired girl.

At one point, a girl threw a balled-up piece of paper to Ryan, which he wrote on then returned to her. She said they were exchanging phone numbers. Initially, the girl said she had asked for the number merely as a keepsake. When Ryan was asked why he gave his number to her, he beamed and said, “Why don’t you just ask them?”

The girl then admitted that she planned to send text messages to Ryan, “to give him support and to ask him what he’s doing [while in the cell].”

“It gets dreary in my cell,” Ryan said. “Getting text messages from these girls keeps me entertained.”

Despite the horrific acts he has confessed to, Ryan claimed that he has received many text messages and letters since his arrest.

“I get between five and 10 letters from people I don’t know every day,” he said. “Most of them are offering support, telling me to be patient and to keep praying.”

Upset by Ryan’s refusal to sing, one of the girls asked, “How come you don’t want to sing us a song this time?” Ryan smiled and answered, “Because I have an ugly voice.”

“How can you say you have a bad voice when you’re launching an album?” the girl replied, jokingly.

Ryan is currently preparing to launch a solo album, titled “Persembahan Terakhirku” (My Last Gift), recorded while he was imprisoned. (This is another parallel to US murderer Manson, who also released an album recorded while in jail.) Produced by Polin Hutagalung, the 12-song album will be released before Ryan’s trial ends, according to reports.

Ryan confirmed that plan and said, “Three of the songs will also be available as ring tones, which should be available some time this week.”

“I’ve always liked singing and making poems,” he said. “This album will depict the story of my life, as six of the songs are written by me.”

Ryan said that the album’s single is called “Lepaskanlah” (Release Me), and is about “a couple that cannot act on their love because of unwanted circumstances.”

One of the girls yelled, “The song is about Novel, right?” She was referring to Novel Andreas, Ryan’s boyfriend who was convicted of being an accessory to Heri’s murder and sentenced to one year in prison.

Ryan smiled and nodded before saying, “Just listen to the girls, they seem to know all about it.”

One of the girls asked if it was true he had booked a hotel to hold a concert. Ryan laughed and said no. “It seems like you girls know more than I do,” he joked.

Although Ryan had initially declined to sing, the girls finally got their wish when a television reporter arrived to interview him. After a few questions relating to the trial, the reporter asked Ryan to sing a song from his upcoming album. This time he consented.

Recording microphone in hand, Ryan looked comfortable in front of the camera as he sang lines from the single, “Lepaskanlah.”

“Release me, forget about me, release me from these shackles,” he sang. “You should leave faraway out of my life. I don’t wanna live with you anymore.”

The girls cheered and applauded, as if the next Indonesian Idol had been performing for them. Enthralled, they clamored for an encore, a request that Ryan also consented to.

Sixteen-year-old Deva said, “He has a really good voice, he is talented. It’s very silvery, and I enjoy listening to it.” She added that she would buy Ryan’s CD when it is released.

When asked what it feels like to have his own fan base, Ryan said, “I don’t see them as my fans. I don’t see myself being an artist.”

But he appreciates the relationship he has with the girls. Being fully aware of the possibility he will receive the death sentence for his crimes, Ryan said that he’s not afraid to die. “We as humans will die anyway. It’s just a matter of time.”

He said the support he has received from the girls has played a pivotal role in strengthening his readiness to face death. “To receive such tremendous reinforcement from them is just amazing, especially in times like this.”

Referring to the group of girls as “Ryan’s friends,” one of the police guards said, “I think they’re his fans. They’ve been here three times [for Ryan]. Some of them even have memorized the lyrics of his songs.”

He said the girls’ presence didn’t bother him, as long as “they don’t carry weapons.”

But not all were as amused at the teens’ presence. An unidentified man in a striped button-down shirt and formal black pants chastised the officers.

“How come these kids are allowed to be around [Ryan]?” he asked. “This isn’t right. What if he becomes their role model?”

“What can we do?” the police guard answered. “They’re just kids.”

Ryan Tries to Reveal Human Dimension to His Darkness

You probably wouldn’t write an autobiography at the age of 31 unless you felt you had something to say and time was running out.

And with the publication of “The Untold Story of Ryan,” there is a palpable sense that Verry Idham Henyansyah, the alleged serial killer better known as Ryan, hopes his human side will emerge clearly from the text.

“I don’t want people to know only my bad side,” said Ryan, who faces the death penalty for the charges, during an interview on Monday.

“My hope is that this book will bring good things to the people around me. It doesn’t matter whether it is a success or not, I just want people to look at my life.”

Published in February by the Depok-based Shinugi Press, the 128-page book is ostensibly a confessional autobiography and includes stories from Ryan’s childhood and his unconventional love life, as well as descriptions of the 11 murders he has been charged with.

“Untold Story” was written in the uninterrupted peace of the Jakarta prison cell where Ryan was held after his arrest in July of 2008, before he was transferred to Depok the following month.

Ryan said the first print run of the book was 4,000 copies and it is available at major bookstores in Jakarta.

“The money I get from this book will be given to my mother,” Ryan said of his decision to immortalize himself in print.

Efforts by the Jakarta Globe to contact representatives of Shinugi Press about financial arrangements with the alleged killer were unsuccessful.

Ryan writes in the book of being a good boy who graduated at the top of his class from both elementary school and high school, and who went on to become a Koran studies teacher — ironically he also dated his first Koran studies teacher, a man, for nine years from the age of 20.

He also related forays into the modeling and the fitness industries — he was an aerobics instructor — and his sporting interests.

Included in “Untold Story” are handwritten excerpts from his drafts for the book, as well as posed studio photographs of himself. In two of the pictures he is wearing an unbuttoned shirt and a white linen sarong. The elastic band of his boxers is fashionably exposed and he has accessorized with an ethnic necklace and leather wristband. In a third picture, Ryan leans bare-chested toward the camera while smiling, appearing all sparkling white teeth, gelled hair and healthy masculinity.

Ryan primarily dedicates the first half of “Untold Story” to describing his parents, whom he writes had trouble showing him affection, and the difficulties he endured as a gay teenager. The going, he writes, was not always easy. His mother had affairs and in one passage Ryan recounts how she forced his 14-year-old stepsister to marry a much older policeman so that she could have sex with her new son-in-law herself.

As a teenager, Ryan also caught his father in an affair with his mother’s older sister.

The book features a map of the backyard of the family home in rural East Java, which Ryan drew himself.

In between a septic tank, a chicken coop and a fish pond are shown the graves of 10 of Ryan’s alleged victims, marked with letters that correspond with their names in the margin of the map.

Ryan writes that he killed some of his victims in a rage, which they provoked.

“Zaky and Aksony [two of the victims] did not only strike me with hurtful words, but their hands groped my vital [sex] organ so that I would date them. I hated their acts. Especially when my homosexuality was used as a reason for them to satiate their lust,” he wrote.

Four of his victims, three men and a woman, Ryan wrote, came to his house and attempted to seduce him into having sex with them, which infuriated him and led to their deaths.

Ryan claimed that he fought both verbally and physically with some of his victims.

But he also said in “Untold Story” that he couldn’t clearly remember all of his crimes.

After narrating the first five murders, he wrote: “If you ask me why I had the heart to kill those five, I cannot explain it with certainty because I really cannot remember all of it clearly.”

The penultimate chapter of Ryan’s jailhouse autobiography includes a detailed account of the last murder, that of Heri Santoso at Ryan’s apartment in Depok, West Java Province.

“After regaining consciousness, apparently the red color that I saw was a pool of blood and the pieces of meat around me were pieces of a human body,” he wrote.

In a foreword to the book, psychologist Dr. Sarlito Sarwono wrote that Ryan’s discontentment with his parents and his homosexuality were long-term factors that might have contributed to Ryan’s diminished mental capacity at the time of the killings.

“We have to conclude that what Ryan went through is an impact of a prolonged and an augmented stress he suffered since his formative years, which exploded when he committed those killings,” the psychologist wrote.

During an interview, however, Ryan denied the theory that his childhood was an influential factor in committing the murders he confessed to.

He said, “I don’t think that the first part of the book is a factor behind the killings. I just want children in Indonesia to never experience what I felt during my childhood. So that people can use this as an example, so that this does not happen to anyone else.”

Ryan said he was aware that the release of the autobiography might jeopardize his ongoing trial,

“It’s not about whether I dare to publish the book [during] the trial,” he explained. “I published the book while I still had the opportunity as I may be sentenced to the death penalty.”

When questioned whether everything in the book truly is autobiographical, Ryan insisted it is. “If I wanted to write lies, I would write a novel. Not an autobiography.”

One excerpt reads, “I stop my writing for a bit. I take a deep breath. From behind the iron bars, I can see many birds flying freely, singing here and there without burden. I see some are acting on love. From the bottom of my heart, I am envious, seeing those birds flying freely out there.”

Piece of Mind: Poverty, Wealth; Bajaj and Fast Cars; $250 Jocks and 50 Cent Dinners

After five years in the United States, where I attained a college degree, learned firsthand about the workings of the US propaganda machine and grew obsessed with McDonald’s dollar menu — especially Double Cheeseburgers — I returned to my homeland in August for good.

But before I left The United States, I went to visit a special friend of mine in Los Angeles — which is known as the City of Angels, though my first impressions were that it is not so much a place of financial angels, but of over-the-top materialism.

One thing about LA struck me in particular: the number of Los Angelians who drive about in $70,000 Range Rovers.

And I joked with my friend that the ubiquity of the Range Rover in LA is like that of the Toyota Kijang van in Jakarta.

Launched in 1977, the Kijang has become the de facto national car and has managed to stay in the fast lane with continued strong sales and popularity — they can be seen everywhere.

Landing at Soekarno-Hatta airport and heading home along the airport road, a row of shanties immediately reminded me of some heart-wrenching statistics: According to the United Nations Development Program, about 28 percent of Indonesian children under the age of 5 are underweight, 23 percent of Indonesians face water shortages and according to the CIA’s World Factbook, 17 percent of Indonesians live in absolute poverty.

But Jakartans don’t need a statistician to tell them that there are beggars at almost all of the traffic lights, pickpockets on the TransJakarta busway bridges and people living illegally in the shacks lining the city’s filthy rivers.

I soon began to notice also that many Jakartans drive Range Rovers.

“Am I back in LA?” I asked myself.

That four-wheeled beauty costs much more in Indonesia than in the States.

Just to give you an idea, the average rupiah exchange rate against the dollar in 2008 was roughly Rp 9,700 and Indonesia’s gross domestic product in per capita terms was about Rp 38 million, according to the CIA Factbook.

If a Range Rover costs Rp 1.5 billion ($126,000), for example, buying one would take the annual income of about 40 Indonesians.

Let’s not forget that the poor actually earn a lot less than “average,” meaning that many more than 40 people would be required to chip in for a single Range Rover.

It is extremely disconcerting to me that in the country where I sleep, eat and breathe, one man’s daily ride equals dozens — if not hundreds — of others people’s entire year’s salary.

Inequality, I think, is what they call it.

Jakarta is a place where it is possible to see a stunning Lamborghini Murcielago car — priced at around Rp 9.5 billion — speeding along past that orange “mother of pollution,” the three-wheeled bajaj.

Another discovery about Jakarta that unsettled me was the number of malls that had sprung up in the five years I had been away.

These new malls showcase luxury goods that I am sure most Jakartans, let alone Indonesians, cannot afford — which might explain why so many of these malls are quiet and deserted.
I find the price tags on the products in one particular department store mind boggling and quite ridiculous.

A designer blouse at this stores can cost upward of Rp 20 million — but it’s the men’s underwear, priced at Rp 3 million, that really takes the cake.

I mean, come on. It’s not like it’s the fashion to wear designer jocks on the outside of your pants like Superman. And it’s not like it’s appropriate to spend that much money on underwear when many people get by on 50 cent dinners.

I truly believe that the raison d’etre of Jakarta’s lavish malls is not shopping.

Their purpose is to provide an air-conditioned haven where Jakartans can get out of the scorching sun and pollution.

I am still trying to grasp, or fathom, the ambiguity and duality of Jakarta.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the super rich — I would probably do the same if I had the same amount of money in my bank account.

I just wish that I had the mind of the British economist John Maynard Keynes, so that I could formulate an all-encompassing theory that would allow a bajaj driver to quit his job and drive around in a supercharged Lamborghini. 

N.E.R.D.’s Not Your Stereotypical Group

Do not be fooled by their name. This group of three does not wear thick eyeglasses, carry heavy textbooks or consider the library their second home. These buddies since high school — Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley — make up a group called N.E.R.D., which marries hip-hop with funk-rock.

These versatile musicians infuse a little bit of everything contemporary, including pop, heavy metal, funk, hip-hop, rock and R&B.

Williams is the group’s frontman, who also plays the drums. Hugo, who is of Filipino descent, plays lead guitar, keys and saxophone. Shay Haley is the backing vocalist-cum-percussionist.

On Sunday, March 22, N.E.R.D. is scheduled to perform to about 4,000 fans with their fusion groove at Tennis Indoor Senayan in South Jakarta, following back-to-back performances at international music festivals in Singapore and Malaysia.

Nirmala Hapsari of Java Festival Production, the promoter of the concert, said, “With many concerts being held in Indonesia, with various genres, this is concrete evidence that Indonesia, especially Jakarta, is a safe and lucrative place for foreign musicians.

“N.E.R.D. is a must-see event for those who have a passion for funk, hip-hop and rap,” Nirmala said. “You can’t miss out on [their] stage presence.”

The ingenious Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo also make up the dynamic Grammy-winning duo, the Neptunes, who are responsible for producing the sounds of some of the most acclaimed pop, hip-hop and R&B artists, including Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears, Madonna, Kelis and Justin Timberlake. N.E.R.D is an offshoot of the Neptunes.

N.E.R.D. is the outlet in which the boys can directly channel their musical creativity. As the band puts it, on their official MySpace page, “N.E.R.D. is the offspring of the Neptunes id … that subscribes to no rules, adheres to no agenda.”

In 2001, their debut album “In Search Of?…?” was released in Europe. The first version was produced with a digital-heavy sound, echoing the modern, hybrid beats Williams and Hugo used on albums they produced for other artists as the Neptunes.

Wanting the band to breathe in different air to the music they had produced as the Neptunes, Williams and Hugo decided to incorporate live instrumentation and collaborated with the Minneapolis native pop-rock band Spymob.

The album did not thrive well compared to the Neptunes’ masterpiece, and neither of its singles, “Lapdance” and “Rock Star,” surfaced as chart-toppers. But the somewhat rowdy hard-rock funk album was not completely bereft of appreciation. It won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, a music accolade bestowed upon an album released in the United States that is yet to enter the mainstream radar and has album sales of less than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination.

Tracks from the second album “Fly or Die,” released in 2004, did better in the music charts and in terms of sales. With the help of pop meets hip-hop, hits like “Maybe,” “Backseat Lover” and “She Wants to Move,” the album peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard 200.

David Browne of the Entertainment Weekly revered the album because “[N.E.R.D.] aren’t afraid to thrash a melody one minute, caress it with suave harmonies the next, toss in fusion jazz piano and set it all to beats, with real drums, that truly swing.”

In 2005, the group disbanded over a label dispute. In March 2005, a BBC Radio 1 interview revealed that “N.E.R.D. is dead,” announced by Williams. “I don’t agree with the management at Virgin Records, so we’re done.” In 2006, frontman Williams decided to go solo without the help of his tandem Hugo, launching “In My Mind,” an album that received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. But in a recent interview with The Australian newspaper, Williams admitted that he regretted going solo, saying, “I wasn’t cut for all of the work that it required to be a solo artist. I like having my friends around.” The hiatus only lasted for about 3 years.

On June 10 last year, the baggy clothes wearing musicians reunited, signed with a new record label and launched their third album, “Seeing Sounds,” which entered the US Billboard 200’s top 10, peaking at No. 7 within two weeks of its release. The album champions two hit singles, “Spaz” and “Everyone Nose,” the latter of which is frequently being played in major Jakarta nightclubs. Christian Hoard, a music critic for Rolling Stone, wrote, “Specked with ostentatiously weird grooves, ‘Spaz’ and the speedy, jazzy single, ‘Everyone Nose,’ are destined to go down as some of 2008’s most interesting hip-hop cuts.”

N.E.R.D. actually stands for No One Ever Really Dies. As frontman Williams says on the group’s official MySpace page, “People’s energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn’t destroyed.”

Let’s hope N.E.R.D. brings this invincible energy with them to Jakarta on Sunday.

Barring the Buddha

A group of 20-somethings sit on plush brown sofas in a bar in Menteng, Central Jakarta, sharing a bottle of whisky and unwinding amid the pulse of house music blaring from the speakers.

Located in a Dutch colonial-era building, the bar is decorated in red and gold with exotic Asian touches, including Buddha statues, and has a relaxed atmosphere. The group of friends are visibly laid-back and happy to talk, although not so keen to have their opinions and names appear in print.

“The club opened less than a year ago,” says one of the members of the group, a woman in a simple gray dress.

“I’m pretty sure they haven’t reached the break-even point. If they have to relinquish the Buddha Bar name, they will lose a lot of money. People come here because of Buddha Bar’s international reputation,” continues the 24-year-old financial analyst, sipping a chocolate martini, while a friend pours out whisky and sets the bottle down on the side of the mahogany table.

Sitting across from her in the warm, low-lit bar is another 24-year-old woman, who works in real estate. Wearing a slim-fitting black dress, she moves her body uninhibitedly to the music.

“I don’t think that they should close down because of the pressure,” she says. “They have every right to be operating if they have all the appropriate licenses and they’re not doing anything illegal.”

Just a few hours earlier this same Saturday, dozens of members of the Magabudhi Buddhist organization staged a peaceful demonstration, demanding that either the bar’s owners change its name or authorities shut the bar down.

On March 5, hundreds of members of the Indonesian Buddhist Students Association protested in front of the venue, saying it was wrong to associate the Buddha with a bar because the faith prohibits alcohol.

Last Wednesday, an organization called the Anti-Buddha Bar Forum filed a complaint with the Jakarta Police for blasphemy, saying the bar defiled their spiritual teacher’s name.

A number of high-ranking government officials have come out in support of the Buddhist protesters.

Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni has asked the French operator, Paris-based George V Hotels and Resorts, to consider closing it down.

“If not, I’m afraid there will be an Islam Bar, a Christian Bar and other bars,” he was quoted by the state-run news agency Antara as saying on Wednesday. “This is important for harmony among religions.”

But the government and Buddhist organizations are not the only ones concerned about the bar’s name.

Sabam Rajagukguk, a 28-year-old entrepreneur, says he enjoys the city’s nightlife and been to the Buddha Bar a number of times.

When the club first opened, he says, he didn’t given the name a second thought. But the recent protests have “opened his eyes.”

Jason (not his real name) agrees. The 25-year-old Buddhist and entrepreneur, who admits to enjoying a drink with friends, says he’s reluctant to condemn lifestyle choices, but finds the name Buddha Bar offensive.

“One of the teachings of Buddhism completely prohibits alcohol consumption,” he says. “To equate the Buddha’s name with liquor is just inappropriate.”

Moreover, he says, other religious communities will be similarly enraged if the name of their faith is used as the name of a bar.

“If there was an Islam Bar, just give it a day, and the place would be burned down,” he says.

The presence of a 6-meter Buddha statue inside the establishment has further upset the Buddhist community, according to Jason.

“Let’s say you went to a bar, and there was a huge statue of Mother Mary in the middle of it. Wouldn’t you find it disturbing? The best thing to do is change the name. It’s the easiest solution.”

The swanky bar, which has branches in New York, London, Dubai and Kiev, opened in Jakarta in October. Before this, the Buddha Bar tried to expand into other Asian countries, including Singapore and Thailand, but was refused permission by the governments because of religious sensitivities.

“The [Indonesian] government should not have granted the license from the beginning,” Sabam says. “Our country’s ethical base is the Pancasila [state ideology], which recognizes five religions, Buddhism being one of them. The majority has to protect the minority.”

Ultimately, he says, a name change would not drastically affect the bar. “If the place is good, people will go there, regardless of the name,” he says. “Look at the Segara lounge in Ancol [in North Jakarta]. The place is really far but people go there anyway.”

Mirell Sahusilawane, 25, an intern at an oil and gas company, has a different point of view. He has not only has visited the Buddha Bar in Jakarta a number of times, but also went to the one in Paris during his college years.

Mirell says he understands that Indonesia as a country upholds the existence of God, as stated in the first article of Pancasila. As such, he says, using the name Buddha could be considered a misuse of something the country recognizes as sacred, rather than an act of cultural appropriation.

But he has no personal objections to the name. “When it comes to business, the owners have the right to name the place whatever they want,” he says. “They bought the franchise because people know about [the Buddha Bar], and because it will being profitable for them. If the license has been granted by the government?…?it becomes the company’s right to do business.”

Mirell, who is Christian, says he will not be offended if there is a bar named Jesus Bar. In a more liberal country, he says, the Buddha Bar will merely be considered a business entity that has capitalized on people’s fascination with other, more exotic cultures.

“In a way, this is just the same as other bars that borrow concepts from a culture.”

Messages to managers of the Jakarta Buddha Bar went unanswered on Friday and Saturday, but I ask a waiter about whether customers have been shying away from the bar, and he says, “We can definitely feel the impact, but we have to keep going.”

Before I leave, I meet a 24-year-old management consultant who follows Buddhism. He asks not to be named, but tells me that he doesn’t mind at all that the bar has borrowed the name of his religion.

He says using Buddha Bar as a name and having Buddha statues inside the establishment are merely part of the bar’s design concept.

“It seems like there is too much emphasis on the exterior side of things,” he says.

“We need to change that common misconception. We don’t pray to the statue, we pray to the Buddha.

“For me, the most important thing about Buddhism is the teachings. Do a lot of good deeds and be nice.

“The most important thing is that the bar doesn’t guide [customers] with Buddhist teachings. It’s not like this is a bar for Buddhists.”