Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

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LTO
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

Post by LTO »

Just because it was a law on the books, etc, doesn't make it any less outrageous. Locking people up for apostacy is medieval. It also seems that it may be a further expression of Myanmar's growing and extremely dangerous xenophobic militant Buddhism (which really probably boils down to ethnonationalism.) That said, living and doing businesses in places like this can be a dangerous proposition for those not up to the task, including not only being aware of the laws but of the mood, trends and unwritten rules of the country around you. Whether those rules are good or bad is irrelevant to their existence, bad things can happen to those who don't stay aware and act accordingly.

This sort of thing with Buddhism and bars has happened at least three times in Cambodia that I am aware of. Twice with barang. Once with a Cambodian. In the case of the barang it lead to protests by monks, the bar owner having to remove the offending words/images, and him having to pay them off to make them go away. In the case of the Cambodian, the ministry simply came to his bar, explained that it was against the rules and told him to change it, which he did. Still, I figure it won't be long before some uninformed/defiant barang here in Cambodia makes this same mistake again and causes a ruckus of some sort.

The ministry have been casting a sour eye at the artist Asasax for years over putting sunglasses and headphones on Bayon faces. One day, especially if Cambodia continues down the course of growing ethnonationalism, people like him may find themselves afoul of the law similar to these guys in Burma.
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

Post by Anchor Moy »

Just heard that the sentence is 2 and a half years with hard labour. Ouch.
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

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@lto - I've often wondered how the "Angkor What?" place in SR has lasted so long with that name.

@Anchor Moy - Source?
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

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Anchor Moy wrote:Welease Woger.
Same pwice like old lease?
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

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Username Taken wrote:@lto - I've often wondered how the "Angkor What?" place in SR has lasted so long with that name.
Yeah, agreed. It occured to me when that place first opened that it seemed potentially disrespectful. Though I guess it's an institution now. There used to be a 'Buddha Bar' just a few doors away from Angkor Wat that was there for maybe a year, that the authorities from the MoC&R came and told to change the name.
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

Post by General Mackevili »

I remember there was the "Oh My Buddha" bar/restaurant on LakeSide and they had a funny pic of a jolly fat man.

When they moved to Street 172 they got in trouble with the name.

They kept the same picture and renamed it "The Laughing Fat Man."

: facepalm:
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

Post by LTO »

Oh yeah. Forgot about that place. I think they still have 'formerly Oh My Buddha' on the Laughing Fatman sign.
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

Post by General Mackevili »

Username Taken wrote:@lto - I've often wondered how the "Angkor What?" place in SR has lasted so long with that name.

@Anchor Moy - Source?
Actually, that's really interesting now.

Clearly Angkor Wat is that most reverend religious symbol/site in all of Cambodia. They have it on their flag, and the flag stands for:

The people/nation (red bars)

Religion/Buddhism (white Angkor Wat)

King (blue bars).

Does seem ironic that they'd put the Cambodian religious image of Angkor Wat on all their beers, while Myanmar is locking people up over something like this on religious grounds of sorts.

Image

Image

Maybe Myanmar will try to kick Cambodia out of ASEAN, LoL.
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

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Username Taken wrote:@lto - I've often wondered how the "Angkor What?" place in SR has lasted so long with that name.

@Anchor Moy - Source?
BBC TV news tonight.
More details tomorrow I imagine.
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Re: Kiwi faces 4 years jail for Buddha ad images in Burma

Post by Anchor Moy »

As I write there is an illuminated Angkor beer neon sign just beside me with its image of the sacred place. So many bars and guest houses sell their trade using Angkor beer signs and Angkor uses them for free advertising.
I guess it's not surprising that some foreigners don't realise that its ok to use this to sell beer, but definitely not to advertise their business. I think Laughing Fat Man is Khmer owned so it's not just foreigners.

Angkor What? probably worked because it wasn't recognised as a pun by local authorities.

Ok, I'm off to Happy Booda for a pizza :)
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