1) Political system and current situation (as of July 2021)

Malaysia was under British colonial rule for 170 years from 1787 to 1957, and was temporarily under the rule of the Japanese Army from 1942 to 1945.
Upon independence in 1957, it is recognized as one of the Commonwealth States.
Many aspects of the political and legal system are strongly influenced by the United Kingdom.

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy political system that emulates the political system of the British Parliament, similar to Japan.
There are Sultans (head of state ) who governs 9 of the 13 states throughout Malaysia namely Perlis, Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Pahang , Terengganu & Kelantan.
The remaining 4 States ( Penang , Melaka, Sabah & Sarawak) which were under direct British rule during pre-independence is governed by a Governor who is the Head of State of the respective states.
The King of Malaysia who is known as “Agong” is elected by the Conference of Rulers consisting of the Sultans of the nine states.
Although the King is nominally the "head of the executive branch," he acts on the advice and approval of the government, leaving the real power under the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.
The parliament is bicameral and consists of the Senate (Dewan Negara) and the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat).
The term of office of the Senate is three years and the fixed number is 70 seats.
The House of Representatives has a five-year term and a fixed number of 222 seats. All members are elected through election.

For 61 years after independence from 1957 to 2018, the administration has been run by the biggest political party coalition known as “Barisan National (National Front) which consists of 3 main parties namely Malay National Organization (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysia India Association (MIC).

During the General Election held in May 2018, a change of government took place for the first time after independence, led by “Pakatan Harapan” which is a coalition of several political parties resulting in several drastic reforms.。

However, such reforms have raised many issues that seemed to undermine existing Islamic rules and regulations which outraged the Malays, who make up the majority of the population, resulting in separation within the ruling party and the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan coalition in February 2020.
A new political alliance, the Perikatan Nasional, was formed and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was appointed as the new Prime Minister in March 2020.

However, in 2021 under Prime Minister Muhyiddin administration, cracks within the political alliance have surfaced.
The number of people who are dissatisfied with the failure of the Muhyiddin administration to control Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in the reorganization of political parties.
The current Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob was appointed on August 2021, making him the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

In November 2022 during the General Election, Perikatan Nasional conceded power to Pakatan Harapan who is led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Upon resuming administration mandate from the results of the general election , Malaysia will revamp the rules of investment making it attractive for Foreign Direct Investments into Malaysia