Avoid dancing, going out for Valentines in Aceh

JAKARTA, Feb 14 (Reuters) Indonesians in the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh can celebrate Valentine's Day, but should avoid dancing or going out, and certainly any intimacy before marriage, an Islamic leader said today.

Aceh, on the tip of Sumatra island at sprawling Indonesia's western extreme, is the only province in Indonesia with the right to adopt strict Islamic sharia laws in the judicial system.

''In our teachings, being together with the opposite sex, drinking, gambling should not be celebrated on Valentine's Day in Aceh,'' Muslim Ibrahim, chairman of the leading body on Islamic affairs in the province, told Reuters.

He said that Valentine's Day in Aceh was associated with pre-marital relationships.

''As long as all the things (forbidden in Muslim teaching) do not happen on Valentine's day, I don't think it is a problem,'' he said.

''They may celebrate Valentine's as long as they do not go out, not drink, and do not do what violates Muslim teachings.'' Some historians say Islam first entered Indonesia through Aceh, known as the ''veranda of Mecca''. An estimated 99 per cent of the population of Aceh follows the faith.

Aceh courts received the right to use sharia-influenced provincial laws as part of an autonomy package Jakarta offered in an attempt to quell separatist passions in the province.

Most Indonesians follow a much more moderate form of Islam in the country of 220 million people, where 85 per cent are Muslims.

Ibrahim said Valentine's Day should not be the only day to celebrate love.

''We Muslims would like to have every day filled with love, not only on February 14. In Islam, all 365 days of a year must be days of love, like the love between a mother and her children,'' he said.

But he questioned the need to celebrate it, given its cultural roots stem from the West.

''It comes from Western culture. Why should we adopt something from another religion?'' Valentine's Day -- which has its origins in the Christian feast of Saint Valentine, the patron saint of romance -- has steadily gained popularity among the youth in some Asian countries like Indonesia and India in recent years.

Reuters KD GC1740