Dr. Zaharul Abdullah is a Senior Lecturer at the Asia-Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya. He earned his PhD in the political economy of development from the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Prior to his current appointment, he served as a lecturer at several Malaysian public universities, including Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and previously held the position of Research Officer at the Akademi Profesor Malaysia (APM). His academic expertise centres on China–Southeast Asia relations, China–US relations, developmental state theory, and the political economy of infrastructure and economic cooperation, with particular emphasis on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Dr. Zaharul has published extensively in Scopus-indexed journals such as International Journal of China Studies, International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, and Kajian Malaysia. He currently leads several competitive research grants and is an active contributor to policy discussions in Malaysian media, including Berita Harian and Malaysiakini.

Dr Ravindaran Maraya is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Department of the Indian Studies University of Malaya. His main areas of research interest are Modern Tamil Literature and Tamil Diaspora Literature. He received his B.A., in the Indian Studies Department from the University of Malaya, in 2006. After that, he enrolled in the Diploma of Education Programme and qualified as a teacher. He also received M.A. and PhD degrees in Indian Studies Department in 2012 and 2020, respectively. In 2009 he joined the Ministry of Education as a Teacher. Then he continues his career as a senior lecturer in Institut Aminuddin Baki, Ministry of Education in 2013. He was also declared a Certified Coach in the Ministry of Education by Institute Aminuddin Baki and went on to serve as a training and coaching section lecturer for National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL) program.

Ali Jalalian Daghigh, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya (UM). He teaches a range of translation as well as discourse analysis courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His main research interests include Translation Studies as well as (Critical) Discourse Studies.