Indonesia's Aceh province bans Valentine's Day celebrations

Feb 8, 2012, 4:39 GMT

Banda Aceh, Indonesia - Authorities in Indonesia's staunchly Muslim province of Aceh warned youths Wednesday against celebrating Valentine's Day, saying it could lead them into promiscuity.

'We advise the public not to celebrate Valentine's Day,' said Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, deputy mayor of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

'We decided to ban Valentine's Day because it celebrates promiscuity, not love the way we would like to see,' she said.

She said mosques and schools would be advised to teach citizens about the origin of the holiday and why it should not be celebrated by Muslims.

Valentine's Day on February 14 originally honoured a Christian martyr, Saint Valentine.

Muslim Ibrahim, the head of the Consultation Council of Muslim Scholars in Aceh, echoed the deputy mayor.

'We urge Muslims not to imitate others,' he said. 'We have our own culture, customs and celebrations.'

'Valentine's Day is associated with unrestrained expressions of love and sex between unmarried people, and this is forbidden in Islam,' he said.

Aceh imposes a form of Islamic law under special autonomy granted to the province as part of central government efforts to pacify a clamour for independence. Gamblers have been caned publicly, and women are required to wear headscarves.

In December, police in Aceh rounded up 50 punk rock fans and detained them for 10 days for 're-education' after shaving off their mohawks and removing body piercings.

The government signed a peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement in 2005, ending decades of conflict that left more than 15,000 people dead.