[Straits Times] MUSLIM leaders in Indonesia on Friday told the faithful not to celebrate Valentine's Day because it is sinful and leads to 'free sex'.They're right, of course. I've seen this with my own eyes. The Pajamagram arrives, she puts it on, she takes it off, and Allen's averting his eyes.
'We forbid Muslims to celebrate Valentine's Day,' said Mr Abdullah Cholil, an East Java leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the mainly-Muslim country's biggest Islamic organisation.
"No Pajamagrams, damn you!"
'The day is often celebrated by young, unmarried people. They celebrate Valentine's Day by holding hands or having free sex, which they are not supposed to be doing,' he said.
That hand-holding is guaranteed to ruin virtue.
Mr Lalilurrahman, the East Java branch chief of the country's highest Islamic body, the Indonesian Ulema Council, said the celebration of romance and love was a Western tradition and therefore should not interest Muslims. 'Valentine's Day originated from Western culture. It's not in accordance with Islamic and Eastern culture,' he said.
"We Muslims have no tradition of romance or love, both of which are rooted in respect of a man for a woman and vice versa. We work toward a sterile, loveless world in which women are breeding stock and men are cannon fodder. It is the Islamic way."
Shopping centres in Indonesia's major cities are decked out with Valentine's Day gift offerings as well as displays marking Chinese New Year. Most Indonesians are moderate Muslims and few pay much attention to the moral edicts of local Islamic leaders.