Ibrahim Suffian is a co-founder and programs director of Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, a leading public opinion polling and political surveys organization in Malaysia. Through Merdeka Center, Ibrahim has been involved in organizing surveys in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore and Myanmar.

Ibrahim received education from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and obtained an MBA from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Ibrahim was a World Fellow at Yale University in 2011.

Bridget Welsh is an independent scholar and political analyst currently based in Kuala Lumpur. She was an Honorary Research Associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia (UoNARI-M) based in Kuala Lumpur. She is also a Senior Research Associate of the Hu Feng Center for East Asia Democratic Studies of National Taiwan University and a Senior Associate Fellow of The Habibie Center. She specializes in Southeast Asian politics, with a focus on Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Indonesia.

Her forthcoming book A Divided Malaysia: The Rise and Fall of Pakatan Harapan examines Malaysia’s 2018 elections and the transformation of national politics during the Harapan government of 2018-2020. She taught at John Cabot University, Ipek University, Singapore Management University, SAIS (JHU) and Hofstra University. She received her Ph.D in political science from Columbia University, language training at Cornell University (FALCON) and B.A. from Colgate University. She is a Senior Advisor for Freedom House, a member of the International Research Council of the National Endowment for Democracy and a core member of the Asian Barometer Survey covering fifteen countries in East Asia.

Achim Schmillen is a Senior Economist with the World Bank’s Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice with expertise in the areas of labor markets, migration, jobs and social protection. His experience spans high quality analytic work and internationally visible research; extensive advisory activities and high-level policy dialogue; and hands-on operational field work and technical assistance in Bhutan, China, Germany, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, the United States and other countries. Achim joined the World Bank in 2013 through the Young Professionals Program and initially worked in the South Asia Human Development Unit. Previous work experience includes appointments with America’s National Bureau of Economic Research and the research institute of Germany’s Federal Employment Agency. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Regensburg and was a visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.