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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian officials and Muslim clerics called for young people to skip Valentine’s Day on Thursday, saying it’s an excuse for couples to have forbidden sex. People in one province were also banned from buying gifts.

Many teenagers use the Western holiday as a time to express their love, which often leads to premarital sex, said Idris Abdul Somad, deputy mayor of Depok, a town on the outskirts of Jakarta, the capital.

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“I called on parents not to give their children any chance to celebrate Valentine’s Day,” he said. “Because they may be expressing love to their lovers more freely … it could lead to forbidden sexual relations.”

He called on residents to instead take their children to Islamic religious activities.

Religious leaders in Aceh, the only Indonesian province where Islamic law is imposed, pressed ahead with a new rule banning people from buying gifts for Valentine’s Day. Celebrations were already banned in the province.