FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2004
V-Day should not be sex day: Laos govt
AFP
HANOI : Laotian authorities warned the country's youth that they should not take advantage of Valentine's Day to indulge in heavy drinking and under-age sex, state-media said on Friday.
"Valentine's Day is not a day for young people to express their love with indulgence and parents should look after their children," Vientiane cultural officials were quoted as saying in the English daily Vientiane Times .
"Independent observers have noted that often when it is a special occasion, many young people go out at night and have too many drinks with their friends," it said.
"Sometimes after these drinking sessions they engage in intimacy. Often these young people use the guesthouses in the city as their meeting place."
Deputy-Head of Vientiane Information and Culture Service, Soutan Phonsongkham said that there was a regulation banning young people under 18 using "guesthouse services", but it did not seem to be solving the problem.
"It is not a day that Lao people should prioritise, it is not our culture," he warned.
"All entertainment venues in Vientiane must be shut down by 10.30pm , or no later than 11pm ," he added.
Fortunately, he noticed, "only a few students behave like this."
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