🌏 Faith, fortune, and fast lanes: Southeast Asia’s week of blended traditions (Week 3 February, 2026)
From Ramadan markets to Lunar New Year feasts, the region balanced devotion, desire, and digital ambition
Your curated wrap-up from The Southeast Asia Desk.
🌙 Two celebrations, one wallet: When Ramadan meets Lunar New Year
For millions across Southeast Asia, Ramadan and Lunar New Year are overlapping — bringing spiritual reflection and festive spending into the same calendar window. Families are balancing tradition, generosity, and rising living costs in an unusually compressed season of celebration.
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🍊 The taste of prosperity and luck
From pineapple tarts in Singapore to kue keranjang in Indonesia, Lunar New Year dishes carry layered symbolism. Across the region, food remains the most powerful language of heritage and hope.
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🤖 Can an AI learning app improve Quranic literacy and worship practices in Indonesia??
Ngaji.ai offers easy-to-use Islamic and Quranic learning modules to support Muslims’ daily worship
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💔 Love minus the long haul: Southeast Asia’s changing relationships
Younger generations across Jakarta, Manila, and Bangkok are redefining romance. Paris may be the classic symbol of romance, but Southeast Asia offers equally unforgettable settings closer to home. From island sunsets to heritage skylines and mountain retreats, love finds its own stage across the region.
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🚗 Indonesia International Motor Show accelerates into 2026
The latest motor show spotlighted electric vehicles, hybrid innovation, and rising domestic manufacturers. Indonesia is positioning itself not just as a market, but as a production hub in Southeast Asia’s EV transition.
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🎧 The Desk Podcast: Blending traditions — lunar reflections in Southeast Asia
This week’s episode explores how Southeast Asia uniquely blends Chinese, Malay, and local traditions during Lunar celebrations — revealing how identity here is layered rather than singular.
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☕ Weekend Notes: Rituals in motion
In Southeast Asia, tradition never stands still. It adapts, overlaps, and evolves — whether in prayer halls, kitchens, classrooms, or car showrooms. This week reminded us that the region’s strength lies in its ability to blend, not divide.
From all of us in the newsroom, Happy Lunar New Year and Happy Welcoming the Ramadhan month!
✨ Stories to linger over, one week at a time.