Today is Feb. 14 and it’s Saturday - a perfect day for Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Young Indonesians out there who live in big cities like Jakarta and Bandung know exactly what this means: It’s love time! I bet many of them are busy choosing the right flowers and chocolate for their girlfriends or boyfriends.
If you visit any mall in Jakarta at the moment you will know they are covered with red and pink love-shaped accessories. It seems that everyone wants to be part of this special celebration.
But that is not the case.
In reality, not everyone in Indonesia is a big fan of Valentine’s Day. Indonesian Islamic clerics have long condemned Valentine’s Day, claiming that this celebration comes from Christian culture and therefore should not be celebrated. And that’s not completely wrong; Valentine’s Day does come from a Christian-dominated society, the West.
I remember when I was in high school, my friends would be divided into two groups. One group would talk about Valentine’s Day weeks before. They would trade information on where the best florist was or what kind of chocolate they could get.
The other group would distribute brochures giving information to others on how Valentine’s Day was not Islamic and therefore should not be followed.
Several days ago a few younger friends of mine asked me whether or not they could celebrate Valentine’s Day.
I answered them by saying that there’s nothing wrong with cele-brating it. One of them was not
satisfied, complaining that Valentine’s Day comes from non-Muslim culture.
I ended the conversation by telling them that I wasn’t an Islamic cleric. I suggested they ask someone with better knowledge on Islam.
But what I think about Valentine’s Day is that there’s nothing wrong with celebrating it as long as we know the limits.
There are several versions of the story of Valentine’s Day. According to one person, a priest named St. Valentine was killed by a king after helping couples to get married. For some reasons which I don’t quite know for sure, this king didn’t want people to get married.
So what?
What if that guy named Valentine had been a Muslim? I’m sure we wouldn’t have any problem with Valentine’s Day celebrations. But why should we make things so complicated?
I just think Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with Christianity - It’s simply a celebration of love and every religion in this world believes in the power of love.
The fact that its history involves a priest is not a big deal. The fact that this celebration comes from a non-Muslim culture, I think, shouldn’t be exploited too negatively.
So what if Valentine’s Day comes from a non-Muslim culture? Don’t we use the internet and learn about computers when we all know they were all invented by non Muslims? Before you judge that as a wrong analogy, please remember that I already told you how sometimes I simplify things too much.
I completely agree with parents’ concerns over how Valentine’s Day celebrations might have a negative affect on their teenagers. Many people have shown their frustration regarding the behavior of Indonesian teenagers, they complain that Indonesian teenagers are becoming far to Western.
But in that case, I don’t think it’s wise to blame the condition solely on Valentine’s Day. There are thousands of factors that influence the behavior of our young Indonesians.
What we need to do is to focus on the positives of Valentine’s Day. What we need to make our teenagers understand is that love is not an exclusive commodity for their boyfriends or girlfriends. Valentine’s Day celebrations should be rejoiced in with parents, siblings, or other loved ones.
All I want to say is that we shouldn’t be too paranoid about this. Not everything from the West is bad for all of us. There are things that we could learn. But, there are also things that we shouldn’t follow.
The writer is a postgraduate student in Washington D.C.
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