Cambodian government warns citizens against Valentine

Cambodia’s government has hit out at Valentine’s
Day, warning students against losing the “dignity of
themselves and their families” in a note sent to
schools across the country.
Valentine’s Day has become something of a
favourite among young people in many Southeast
Asian countries in recent years, with bunches of
red roses and heart-shaped chocolates cropping up
in stores and on street stalls each February.
But that has left some officials rattled, particularly
in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand — both of
which have become renowned in recent years for
issuing warnings about the pitfalls of young love
and premarital sex ahead of the 14 February
holiday.
The Cambodian Ministry of Education directive,
which was sent to private and public schools on
Tuesday, ordered teachers to “take measures to
prevent inappropriate activities on Valentine’s
Day”.
The ministry said the increasingly popular holiday
was driving young people “to overjoy, to forget
about studying and to lose the reputation and
dignity of themselves and their families”.
“It is not a traditional event of our Khmer people,”
the statement said according to a copy seen by
AFP.
Social conservatives in both countries see the day
as a foreign import which represents a moral threat
to traditional Buddhist beliefs.
Cambodian women in particular are under intense
pressure to retain their virginity until marriage.
At the same time the country has become
notorious in recent years as a regional hub for
selling young women’s virginity to wealthy men,
something rights groups say underlines intense
double standards over sexuality and gender.
Last year officials in junta-run Thailand also
sounded a note of caution over Valentine’s day,
calling on young people to have a special meal or
visit temples instead of having sex.
While both Cambodia and Thailand have a
seemingly anything-goes image among holiday
makers and thriving sex work industries, they also
have a conservative streak.
Health workers say sex education in both nations
remains underfunded and of poor quality, partly
because the subject of sex is so taboo.