Dr. Kenny S.L Cheah is currently a Senior Lecturer based in the Faculty of Education, University Malaya. He teaches, writes, and publishes in the subjects of Educational Leadership & Management, School Transformations, Edu-preneurship, Environmental Education Leadership, Organisational Sustainability, and Future Education Systems. Apart from academia, he is also a Senior Certified Trainer with ATLAS.ti (CAQDAS Sofware), a Certified Google Educator, and a Digital Entrepreneurship Educator. For writing and publications, he welcomes multidisciplinary collaborations with other international and local scholars. He can be reached at kennycheah@um.edu.my ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9881-582X PUBLONS: G-6116-2016 SCOPUS : 57193695246    

Dr. Chong Wu Ling is a senior lecturer at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. Her areas of expertise include ethnic Chinese studies and Southeast Asian politics. She is the author of Chinese Indonesians in post-Suharto Indonesia: Democratisation and ethnic minorities (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2018). The book explores the role of ethnic Chinese Indonesians in shaping the democratisation process as well as their position in post-Suharto Indonesia across business, politics and civil society. She is also the co-author of Kaedah penyelidikan dan panduan penulisan [Research methods and guidance for writing, in Malay] (Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Malaya Press, 2016) (with Professor Dr. Sivachandralingam Sundara Raja and Dr. Noraini Mohamed Hassan). Wu Ling has published articles and book reviews in Asian Ethnicity, Pacific Affairs, Southeast Asian Studies, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (JSEAS), JATI—Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Sejarah, Sarjana, Borneo Research Journal (BRJ), Jebat: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics & Strategic Studies, Journal of Chinese Overseas, and International Journal of China Studies.

I’m a Senior Lecturer at the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA), Universiti Malaya. Before I was appointed a senior lecturer, I was a visiting fellow under the UKM–Nippon Foundation Programme at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), UKM, where I also served as a junior research fellow. Following my tenure at UKM, I was appointed as a Special Task Officer to the then-President of the Senate, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Utama Dr Rais Yatim, at the Parliament of Malaysia. In this role, I gained invaluable first-hand experience in policy discussions, bill drafting, governance processes, and diplomatic engagement. My primary research focuses on national security and foreign policy, Latin American politics, and the development and cultivation of a culture of peace in Costa Rica, examined through a constructivist framework. I have spent significant time conducting fieldwork, attending conferences, and establishing networks in Mexico and Costa Rica to deepen my understanding of Latin American politics and its wider implications for international relations. My academic interests also extend to global political dynamics from a postcolonial perspective, with a particular emphasis on debates surrounding Orientalism and Occidentalism. My work bridges theoretical insights with practical applications, fostering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between history, culture, international relations, and public policy. I am eager to supervise students within these areas of research and interest as well as those who seek to explore connections between Latin America and Southeast Asia.