By Quratul-Ain Bandial and BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Hollywood film "Valentine's Day", starring Julia Roberts, was banned here Wednesday following recent warnings from religious leaders declaring that "Valentine's Day is not for Muslims" because it encouraged "promiscuous activity".

Social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter were swamped with comments of the sudden removal of the film from cinema schedules.

Ahmad Naqiuttin Mohammed, marketing executive for The Mall Cineplex, told The Brunei Times that he was informed on Wednesday that the censorship board had decided to ban the movie from Brunei cinemas. "I was not given an official reason by the censorship board as to why the movie has been banned. But we have already returned the promotional material and the film to the distributor," he said.

Naqiuttin said this is the second time this year that a film has been banned after the cineplex had already began promoting it to the public.

However, when The Brunei Times contacted The Mall Cineplex ticket hotline, the ticketing operator said that movie was banned due to "homosexual themes" and for promoting Valentine's Day.

Dee Dee, a supervisor at Seri Qlap cineplex, confirmed that the movie was removed from her cinema as well. "I do not know where the order came from but my boss informed me two days ago. We were then also informed by The Mall Cineplex," she said.

A government worker, who only wished to be known as Haziah, told us that she agrees with recent statements from religious leaders about teenagers being too brazen in their behaviour.

"They are very bold in public displays of affection and don't really care about how uncomfortable it makes those around them. But I don't really think discouraging Valentine's Day is going to stop them. They'll just do it anyway," she said.

Rajish, a doctor at Ripas hospital, stated it did not affect him if Valentine's Day was celebrated or not but he was not keen on the idea of the movie being banned.

The Brunei Times tried to contact several government agencies yesterday regarding the banning of "Valentine's Day" but they declined to comment.