Short answers, pulled from the story.
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia made up of 13 states and three federal territories. It is divided by the South China Sea into Peninsular Malaysia on the mainland and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo.
Malaya achieved independence on the 31st of August 1957 as the Federation of Malaya. On the 16th of September 1963, independent Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia, and Singapore separated from the federation in August 1965.
The name Malaysia combines the word Malays with the Latin-Greek suffix meaning 'land of', translating as 'land of the Malays'. One theory holds the syllable si was chosen to represent the inclusion of Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak in the 1963 federation.
Malaysia's head of state, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, is elected to a five-year term by and from the nine hereditary rulers of the Malay states. By informal agreement the position rotates among the nine, and Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor has held it since the 31st of January 2024.
About 69.7% of Malaysian citizens are considered bumiputera, including the dominant Malays, while 22.8% are Malaysian Chinese and 6.8% are Malaysian Indian. Approximately 63.5% of the population practises Islam, 18.7% Buddhism, 9.1% Christianity, and 6.1% Hinduism.
The 1MDB scandal was a major corruption scandal that implicated then-Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2015. A Department of Justice lawsuit alleged that at least $3.5 billion tied to Najib Razak had been stolen from Malaysia's 1MDB state-owned fund, and the scandal helped drive the first change in the ruling party since independence at the 2018 election.