StroppyChops wrote:We're having points now? When did that start?

BOFH wrote:

StroppyChops wrote:We're having points now? When did that start?

We can start conversing like adults whenever you're ready.

In the meantime, talking to you gives the same level of satisfaction as talking to any other tuk-tuk driver.

General manager Philip Blackwood, 32, owner Tun Thurein, 40, and manager Htut Ko Ko Lwin, 26, were detained for police questioning Wednesday and the bar was shuttered after a complaint by an official from Myanmar’s Religious Department, police said.

“According to Mr Philip’s statement, they were trying to promote the bar. Buddha grabs people’s interest... however Buddhists cannot accept it,” a police official in Yangon’s Bahan township told reporters late Wednesday.

“This insults the religion. So we opened the case under the Religion Act. We will file a lawsuit,” he said, requesting not to be named.

Under the act, anyone who attempts to insult, destroy or damage any religion can be punished by a maximum of two years in jail, with another two-year penalty for those who attempt to insult religion through the written word.

After criticism erupted the bar - which opened just two weeks ago - deleted the post and wrote an apology on the Facebook page.

“VGastro management would like to express our sincere regret if we have offended the citizens of this wonderful city, who have welcomed us so warmly and generously,” it said.

“Our intention was never to cause offence to anyone or toward any religious group. Our ignorance is embarrassing.”

But the apology attracted a slew of angry comments from Burmese social media users including one saying “Shame on you!”, while another decried the bar management as “utterly unprofessional and culturally insensitive.”

"I had no intention at all of insulting religion," Mr Blackwood told the court in comments read out in Burmese by a judge.

"I only did it for promotional purposes for my shop. I'm not guilty."

When the prosecutor asked whether he knew the law before entering the country, Mr Blackwood said he did not fully understand the legal system.

"I'm not guilty as I honestly posted it without knowing this problem could occur," he said, according to the judge.

“The charges should be dropped and all three men should be immediately and unconditionally released,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, speaking to DVB on Friday. “While international human rights law and standards permit certain restrictions to the right to freedom of expression, these restrictions are clearly defined and limited in scope. There is no way that the charges and prosecution in this case can meet the narrow human rights criteria for restricting the right to freedom expression, and therefore Myanmar is clearly violating this right.

“Pending their release, they must be granted full and unhindered access to their families and lawyers of their choosing and, where required, an interpreter,” he added.

The sentiment was backed by Phil Robertson, the deputy-director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, who slammed the verdict and called into question the “lynch mob mentality” that provoked the charges.

“Demanding respect for religion doesn’t justify criminalising free speech or abusing other rights, and it certainly doesn’t vindicate the apparent lynch mob mentality that the Ma-Ba-Tha [hardline Buddhist group] have towards these three persons,” he told DVB. “The provisions of the penal code they are charged under are overly broad and essentially allow the authorities to criminalise speech about religion without effective restriction — when what is really needed here is a reasoned discussion about freedom of expression and religion.

“All three should be immediately released on bail and allowed to defend themselves against these charges – and the fact that they immediately apologised and withdrew the offending materials should be considered sympathetically and taken into account.”

Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, said, “It is bizarre to be targeting men working in a small bar for insulting Buddhism, rather than targeting those responsible for shooting at monks and raiding monasteries to crush the uprising in 2007.”

Although many hardline Buddhists have called for severe punishments to be meted out to the three defendants, other monks have now stood up to call for forgiveness in view of the circumstances, saying that the offending material was clearly not meant to be insulting and the fact that the bar managers issued a full apology.

Ashin Sopaka, a highly revered monk and writer based in Monywa, called for the trio to be released in the spirit of Buddhist tolerance and forgiveness.

“I was thinking what would The Buddha say in this issue, and he would say: ‘It’s no problem, I forgive you, but please do not make such a mistake again’,” he wrote.

Alcohol is not compatible with buddhism.

A proposed Marriage Bill would require Buddhist women to seek permission from local authorities before marrying a man of another faith, while the Religious Conversion Bill creates new legal criteria for changing faiths. The conversion policy has received particular scorn from some of Burma’s minority faiths, including Christians and Muslims, who have historically been subject to religious persecution by the former military regime.

Anchor Moy wrote:

Alcohol is not compatible with buddhism.

Where do you get that from? Not Cambodia anyway

BOFH wrote:

Anchor Moy wrote:

Alcohol is not compatible with buddhism.

Where do you get that from? Not Cambodia anyway

The five precepts, the constitution of the basic Buddhist code of ethics.

Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Prec ... ning_rules

phuketrichard wrote:a
...
Plus keep this in mind,

The report mentions that the sentence was for the original offense and also ignoring the orders of an official. If the orders of the official were a warning to take them down and that was ignored

from K440

You can say coming from me thats crazy BUT all i am saying is be aware of what your doing wherever ur doing it.

The three were arrested in December after the image was used to promote the tapas bar and lounge, and have been detained in Myanmar's notorious Insein prison. The online ad was removed and an apology was posted.

The first charge pertains to destruction, damage or defilement of sacred places or objects with intent or knowledge that the action could cause insult, while the latter pertains to disobeying an order issued by a public servant. The trio’s attorney said the charge related to keeping the V Gastro Bar open after authorized hours.