A medical doctor by training, Mahathir led Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and is dubbed the country's "father of modernization." A shrewd politician, he won five consecutive general elections, while deflecting challenges to his leadership of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), a core component party of the ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN).

The Malaysian elections must be held by August this year, with analysts predicting they will happen by June. It promises an unprecedented spectacle as it will pit incumbent Najib Razak against Mahathir, his former mentor, who had favored him and helped install him as PM in 2009. Mahathir quit UMNO in 2016 following the 1MDB scandal, saying it had become "Najib's party."

Called a "dictator" by critics for his hard stance on dissidents and the press, and for curbing the power of the judiciary while he was PM, he attended a Bersih ("Clean") rally in 2016 organized by several NGOs seeking reforms of the current electoral system to ensure free, clean and fair elections. Critics also blame him for consolidating power in the hands of the executive during his tenure.

Mahathir set up a new party in 2016, which then joined forces with Pakatan Harapan, a loose coalition of oppostion parties. Ironically, he had locked away some members of these parties before, most significantly, his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. The coalition has stated that if it wins the 2018 elections, Mahathir would be PM and Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pictured here), his deputy.

Anwar (L), once Mahathir's heir apparent-turned-archrival, was sacked from his post as deputy PM, and later charged and found guilty of graft and sodomy. Yet, in their shared zeal to unseat Najib, they've now struck a deal, with Mahathir offering to secure a royal pardon for Anwar (currently serving a second sentence for sodomy under Najib's administration), easing the way for Anwar to become PM.

Not all Malaysians are on board with this pact though. Some civil society members and opposition lawmakers blame Mahathir for engineering the very system he now opposes. This disquiet has spurred a new movement. #UndiRosak (or #SpoiltVote) that urges voters to either boycott the polls or cast spoilt ballots. But others argue that this will merely split opposition votes and empower BN further.

Current PM Najib Razak's administration has been mired in scandals, most notably involving the state fund 1MDB, which is being probed for money laundering in several countries. However, a survey in December predicted that he is likely to remain in power given a fractious opposition and his government's efforts to redraw electoral boundaries that critics claim highly favor a BN win.

The BN, which has governed Malaysia since independence in 1957, lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority after the 2013 elections. It also then lost the popular vote for the first time in its history to Pakatan Harapan.

Meanwhile, the nonagenarian has taken to social media in a bid to court the country's younger electorate. But a poll conducted in August 2017 found that "seven out of 10 voters below the age of 30 in Peninsular Malaysia do not care about politics; two-thirds believe that politicians were not just untrustworthy, but also the 'main problem in Malaysia.'"

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Since its founding, the bloc has emerged as a beacon of unity in Southeast Asia, although it has often struggled to find consensus among members over key policy issues affecting the region's politics, security and the economy, among other things.

The Sultanate of Brunei, located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, is one of the richest nations in the world. The small, oil-rich country is governed by its sultan as an absolute Muslim monarchy. Islam is the official religion in Brunei, with Sunni Muslims making up about 70 percent of the population. The sultan also sees himself as the main custodian of religious beliefs in Brunei.

Cambodia joined the ASEAN grouping in 1999, and during the past ten years, the Cambodian economy has grown by at least 7 percent year after year. That makes it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. But the unequal distribution of wealth and income is a problem, with many of the nation's around 16-million strong population stuck in abject poverty, especially in rural areas.

Indonesia plays a salient role in ASEAN due to its status as the bloc's most populous member state as well as the world's most populous Muslim nation, with over 250 million inhabitants. The ASEAN secretariat is also based in the country's capital, Jakarta. Indonesia, which comprises around 17,000 islands, is the world's largest archipelago nation and boasts Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Laos became a member of the ASEAN bloc in 1997. The country has a population of around 6.5 million. Around 80 percent of the inhabitants of the poor, landlocked and isolated communist country depend upon farming for their livelihood. That's how they subsist and feed their families. Laos has an increasingly close relationship with China.

A founding member of ASEAN, Malaysia has the club's third-largest economy. Religion and politics are sensitive issues in Malaysian politics, with the deadly sectarian riots of 1969 often cited as the need to maintain ethnic harmony in the country. Over 60 percent of Malaysia's 30 million inhabitants are Muslim, with the rest adhering to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and other religions.

Myanmar, which joined the club in 1997, was ruled for decades by a military junta that left it impoverished. The party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation's democracy icon, won the first fully free elections for generations, held in 2015. But authorities are struggling to tackle a powerful Buddhist nationalist movement that has grown in strength in recent years and favors the former military rulers.

The Philippines, an archipelago nation consisting of thousands of islands, is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world. The country has has a population of over 100 million, and one of the fastest expanding economies. But it has suffered major environmental degradation in recent years due to reasons such as mismanagement of resources, deforestation and high population growth.

The wealthy city-state has been a member of ASEAN since the bloc's founding in 1967. The country has a thriving economy, which has grown at a rapid pace since independence, underpinned by its position as a global financial hub. Densely populated Singapore has a multi-racial citizenry as well as tough laws against protests and curbs on press freedom.

Thailand's politics have been characterized by a long series of coups, with the nation's military frequently ousting democratically elected governments. The 2014 coup marked the 12th successful military takeover since Thailand embraced parliamentary democracy 85 years ago. The country boasts Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy and the reputation of being an attractive tourist destination.

Vietnam has been ruled by a one-party communist state since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Since 1986, Vietnam has introduced sweeping market reforms to boost growth and development. But the ruling party doesn't permit criticism and the country is ranked among the worst for press freedom. Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995.