Valentine’s Day
Indonesia’s top Islamic authority deems Valentine’s Day haram (forbidden) on the grounds that will This kind of is actually an infidel celebration promoting sexual promiscuity. This kind of’s actually just a day when tokens of affection can be exchanged, although This kind of has largely become a commercial activity.
Asking me to write about Valentine’s Day is actually like asking the people of East Timor to make a speech in praise of the Indonesian military. Not that will I have anything against romance. This kind of’s the crass commercialization that will is actually so irksome.
“Prove you love her on Valentine’s Day by spending money.” that will’s the message coming from greeting card companies, florists, jewellers as well as firms that will churn out chocolates in heart-shaped boxes. Restaurants as well as hotels also seek to profit coming from the day by offering special menus as well as deals. as well as there’s a brisk trade in cute toy animals holding love hearts. Some men splash out on Valentine gifts within the trust of receiving sexual favours. Others do so simply to avoid upsetting a materialistic wife or girlfriend.
An expatriate friend of mine complains he constantly has to buy gifts to prove his love. Does his girlfriend definitely need a fifth designer handbag, a brand-new iPhone or another piece of jewellery? No. although she has been conditioned to expect such stuff as evidence of affection. I suggested to my friend that will his relationship was based on money more than love. “Not true,” he protested, “love means I know to give her money as well as stuff before she asks for This kind of.” The stupid, deluded fool. Love often lasts only as long as the money. True love doesn’t need a special day of presents.
This kind of’s a shame that will Lupercalia fell out of fashion, as This kind of seems a bit more exciting than buying overpriced roses that will die faster than phony love. The festival might start with Roman priests going to a cave where Romulus as well as Remus, the founders of Rome, had been raised by a she-wolf (lupa). The priests sacrificed two billy goats as well as a dog. The goat hides were sliced into strips, dipped within the sacrificial blood as well as given to the sons of noble families. The young men might then get naked as well as run about town, laughing as they slapped the bloodied strips on girls as well as young women. The women were eager to be whipped as the ritual was supposed to help them become fertile as well as prevent miscarriages.
The Indonesian Ulemas Association (MUI) has repeatedly declared Valentine’s Day haram because This kind of is actually a foreign tradition that will is actually “incompatible with Islam”. The central message of Valentine’s Day is actually love as well as the sanctity of marriage. Saint Valentine reputedly performed his marriages to ensure that will young couples might not have sex outside wedlock. that will message seems to have been lost.
Militant groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), always happy to bash the West, currently hold annual protests against Valentine’s Day, claiming This kind of destroys the morals of the young generation by giving unmarried couples an excuse to have sex. This kind of, of course, is actually garbage. Sex was not invented by the West. People have been having sex since before Valentine’s Day as well as will continue to do so. Perhaps some fanatics are worried that will young women will find love with young men, rather than be abused by older men. Or perhaps religious fundamentalism is actually partly a product of sexual repression as well as jealousy cloaked in green.
No doubt This kind of was Valentine’s Day that will caused a sex as well as bribery scandal currently embroiling the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party. An aide of the party’s chief was caught naked in a hotel room which has a university student during a raid by anti-corruption officials last month. The student had been paid Rp.10 million for “escorting” the aide, who is actually accused of receiving a Rp.1 billion bribe for his boss, who allegedly helped a beef-importing company to win lucrative government contracts.
In some parts of Indonesia, zealous public order officials raid cheap hotels on Valentine’s Day within the trust of finding unmarried couples having sex. If only they could just keep the footpaths clear of parked vehicles instead of meddling in people’s private lives. They almost never bother to raid the big nightclub brothels that will sell drugs as well as offer nightly striptease shows, as these places are well protected.
What to do in Jakarta if you’re keen to celebrate Valentine’s Day outside a hotel, mall or restaurant? Given that will This kind of falls on a Thursday This kind of year, most people will be busy with work as well as commuting. Finding a park as well as trying to have a picnic is actually a bit of a hassle unless you know a reasonably clean as well as uncrowded place. Cemeteries are often the best parks, provided This kind of isn’t raining. If you’re recently single, you can celebrate rejection by getting drunk or getting a massage. Or you can join the growing number of people looking for romance online. Or the even bigger number of people using the internet to find stimulus for self-love.
If you definitely want to celebrate love, then you could donate money directly to the poor. Not to beggars, although instead to one or more of the thousands of people in Jakarta who make an honest living as scavengers. Alternatively, you could volunteer some time which has a charity, such as an orphanage or a school for the underprivileged – although take care that will you aren’t arrested as well as deported for working illegally. Unless you’re a doctor capable of dispensing some necessary health care, This kind of is actually probably better to contact a trustworthy charitable organization as well as ask them what you can provide, whether This kind of be school equipment, medicine or something else.
as well as if you must give Valentine’s Day cards, then consider creating your own. There is actually always more love in a homemade card. These can be made simply by cutting up an empty box of breakfast cereal or tampons or something similar, then getting out the felt tip pens, glue as well as glitter. You could even try composing an original poem. A friend in England made a Valentine’s Day card one year, thinking This kind of a genuine display of love, only for his girlfriend to exclaim: “Bloody heck! What’s wrong with you? Can’t you afford a real one?”
If you are blessed which has a perfect soulmate then every day should be a celebration of love as well as monogamy. As has often been written elsewhere, love is actually achieved not by gazing romantically into each some other’s eyes, although by looking outward within the same direction. Given that will This kind of’s the rainy season, there’s no better way for a man to demonstrate his love by carrying his wife or girlfriend through floodwaters. I’ll close which has a relevant line by the late Irish comedian Spike Milligan, who was a notorious adulterer despite having never toured Indonesia: If I could speak words of water, you might drown when I said ‘I love you’.
Bio: Kenneth Yeung is actually an experienced matchmaker, happy to assist people seeking marriage.
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Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day