Mass Valentine wedding in Malaysia despite Muslim anger

(MENAFN- AFP) Malaysian Islamic authorities took their annual swipe at Valentine's Day Friday, calling it a threat to Muslim values, but 138 couples took part in a mass wedding to mark the date.In its official Friday sermon text distributed to mosques in the Muslim-majority country, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department blamed Valentine's Day for everything from alcoholism to abortion."Social ceremonies such as this are a stepping-stone towards greater social ills such as fraud, mental disorder caused by alcohol, abortion and baby-dumping, and other negative ills that can invite disaster and moral decay among youths," it said.Known by its Malay-language acronym JAKIM, the department is an official watchdog of Muslim values. It regularly denounces Valentine's Day as encouraging vice and promiscuity.More than 60 percent of Malaysia's 28 million people are Muslim ethnic Malays. However, members of the large Chinese minority celebrated the day with a mass wedding of 138 couples.The lovers tied the knot at the Thean Hou temple in the capital Kuala Lumpur, releasing scores of red, heart-shaped balloons after the ceremony.Another 70 couples were to wed in the afternoon in individual ceremonies, an official at the Confucian temple said."We're doing it specially for this year as only once in 19 years does Valentine's Day coincide with Chap Goh Mei," the official said.