Malaysia also offers English language newspapers, English radio and satellite TV with over 30 English-language channels. Seasoned expatriates – mostly from other parts of Southeast Asia or Middle East– moving to Malaysia for the first time, tend to continue their gregarious lifestyle without any culture shock and immediately fit into an existing group, often meeting old friends from earlier years. New expatriates, coming to Malaysia on retirement, sometimes do suffer from culture shock and can take some time to settle in. These feelings are quickly banished when they join ‘the club’ – finding there kindred spirits and a relaxed, friendly lifestyle. Both the two large expatriate centres, of Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Penang, have a wide variety of clubs, and even smaller town have one or two. 

Thousands of expatriates live and work in Malaysia. Several thousand more have settled in this tropical paradise under the ‘Malaysia: My Second Home’ scheme (MM2H). Most are completely retired while a few have received special dispensation to work part-time in specialised IT fields. There are also a few “Social Visit Pass” holders under the MM2H who maintain some form of part-time employment overseas – most commonly company directorships of non-Malaysian companies, owners of offshore companies and writers. Since the implementation of the MM2H scheme there has been a noticeable increase in club membership. Most clubs here have affiliations with other clubs around the world and so club members in the UK who are thinking of retiring here should check their affiliations.

In Penang there are several groupings of expatriates based on where they previously lived or worked. I belong to two lunch groups made up of ex-Hong Kong expats. An advantage of this sort of grouping is that it not only acts as a broad-based social group but also allows for the transfer of relevant information and forms a safety net of friends who can often help and give advice in times of trouble as well as welcoming and mentoring new arrivals. Most retirees here plan to stay indefinitely, just returning to their country of origin on ‘home leave’ once in a while to see friends and family. 

Many people wonder how retirees can fill their day, especially if the normal work of running a home has been reduced by having domestic help. The answer is that in Malaysia it feels as though there are never enough hours in the day for all the activities available. Due to the constant warm weather sport forms an important part of the social scene here for the entire year. Most clubs have sporting facilities and squash, (for the younger retirees) and racquetball, badminton and tennis (for the not so young) are played in many of the clubs with exceptionally sociable interclub matches arranged for all levels of player. Sailing and golf are also popular and both KL and Penang are endowed with many reasonably priced golf courses which can be used mid-week by non-members. Scuba diving is excellent on both the east coast and on the islands off East Malaysia, home of several of the world’s top dive sites. 

Hill walking is another popular exercise as are morning exercises in the parks where Tai Chi and other exercise routines are followed in the cool of the early morning. Not surprisingly there are many HASH runs all over Malaysia as the original HASH was held at the Spotted Dog or – to use its more formal name – The Royal Selangor Club in KL.

Travel within Malaysia is another popular pastime since the country offers a great variety of attractions at the hill stations and coastal resorts. For travel further a field budget airlines give easy access to the rest of Asia and Australia. Singapore and Thailand are both an easy drive away and it is simple to take one’s car to either. At the border crossing for Thailand it is necessary to buy third party insurance (50 pence for each day to be spent in Thailand). 
 
At the Singapore border drivers buy a smart card for £2 and a small daily charge for driving a Malaysian registered car in Singapore is deducted from the card when you leave. For more adventurous drivers there is a 4 x 4 off road club that arranges expeditions throughout the region as well as jungle expeditions within Malaysia. There is also a thriving vintage car club which arranges rallies in both Malaysia and Singapore. For the less energetic there are a variety of cooler options and organisations such as the International Woman’s Association which has groups for archery, bridge and – on through the alphabet – to yoga. 

Even the simple daily routines here take on an added charm, from breakfasting on fresh tropical fruits on a balcony overlooking the sea, to dawn walks up Penang Hill or through the Botanical Gardens. Even a rich aromatic local coffee in front of the computer while checking your emails and reading the world news has an especial charm. After breakfast, a round of golf followed by lunch at the club with friends, or a sail, then – after an afternoon nap – it’s down to the Eastern and Oriental (E&O) Hotel for drinks on the seafront terrace, overlooking the Channel between Penang and mainland Malaysia, followed by an international buffet dinner in Sarkies.

The hotel – named after the brothers who originally built it in 1885 – retains much of its old world charm, having been renovated to the high standards for which it was justly famous when previously patronised by W. Somerset Maugham on his Malaysian travels. To give you an idea of the cost of living here, the golf, with lunch, then drinks and dinner will set you back less than £25 pounds per person.

Cost of living
Malaysia has an exceptionally low cost of living and a tax regime that is most welcoming to foreigners. Everyone should be tax resident somewhere and where better than a tax friendly country? Put simply, for a foreigner no tax is charged on any income derived outside of Malaysia. Interest on any number of fixed deposits of RM100,000 (£14,300) or less, held in a Malaysian registered bank is also tax free. The current rate for a fixed deposit of 12 months is 3.7 per cent, and in certain banks the interest can be paid monthly. There is no inheritance tax and no capital gains tax on assets other than property. Capital gains tax on the sale of property in Malaysia, owned for less than five years is charged at 30 per cent, but drops to less than five per cent if the property is held for more than five years. 

There is no VAT, but there is a Government Sales Tax (GST) of five per cent on hotel and restaurant bills and on professional bills such as lawyers’ bills. One could, for example, become a Malaysian taxpayer if income is obtained from rental earnings in Malaysia or from royalties on published works in Malaysia. However, there are many allowances which greatly reduce such tax liability.

Possessions imported for personal use when retiring to Malaysia are exempt from tax. (These items should not include daggers, drugs, firearms or alcohol.) If recorded videos, VCDs or DVDs are imported they will be checked for content and there is a checking charge of RM30 (£4.30) per item. Once the retiree has been out of the UK for the prescribed period, then offshore investments become free of UK tax and are not taxed by the Malaysian tax authority. Several retirees have calculated that their living expenses within Malaysia are far less then their tax savings making it, in effect, cost free to live here. Property prices are low: a three-bedroomed apartment in a condominium in Penang is available from £36,000. Utility charges are low and with temperatures never dropping below 22oC at night, there is no need for central heating. Air-conditioning is normally considered essential, at least for the bedrooms. Even if air-conditioning is used regularly, the total electricity bill should not exceed £600 per annum and many families only use half that amount. 

There is no piped natural gas, but a large cylinder of LP gas is less than £2.20 including delivery, usually within four hours but often within 30 minutes. Telephone land lines cost £3.90 per month and local calls are the equivalent of four pence a minute. The cheapest international calls are via call cards and a £4.30 card enables just under four hours of call time to the UK. Water and sewage combined charges average less than £3 a month. Postal charges are also well below those in the UK as a first class stamp costs less than five pence and an airmail post card to anywhere in the world costs seven pence.

Local domestic help is readily available and while it is not necessary to have a maid if living in a condominium, it certainly makes life more pleasant. Maids are available for £1.50 an hour and, for many couples, hiring a maid for just a few hours a day to do the washing, ironing and cleaning is sufficient. 

A full-time live-in Indonesian maid can be hired for about £75 per month compared to £110 for an English-speaking maid from the Philippines. They can be obtained through an agency, but the best method is to take over a maid from a friend who is leaving, or to hire one on the recommendation of a friend. Most larger properties have an additional maid’s sleeping quarter. Public transport is much cheaper than in the UK (a 6-km bus ride costs about 10 pence). Cars, however, are significantly more expensive to buy than in the UK, especially imported models with a large engine capacity, while locally-assembled cars are about 10-15 per cent higher. (Foreigners coming in on the MM2H scheme are entitled to buy or import one car, tax and duty free, making it considerably cheaper than in the UK.)  Running costs are very cheap; petrol is less than 20 pence per litre. Road tax for a two litre car is £57 and £18 for a one litre car. Third party insurance for all cars without a no-claims bonus is £14 per annum. A no-claims bonus can be transferred from a UK insurer.  Imported cigarettes cost less than £1 a packet – local brands even less – while premium imported spirits are about £12 a bottle. Locally bottled gin, vodka, rum, brandy and whisky are available for less than £4 per bottle. They serve the purpose but for most expatriates the whisky is noticeably inferior to their usual proprietary brands.

Wine is available from £3 per bottle upwards – a long way upwards, alas – as the percentage duty increases with the value of the wine. Beer in the supermarkets fluctuates according to the current special offer and, when bought by the case, varies between 45-75 pence per small can. Incoming international passengers are allowed to bring in a litre of duty free spirits and the island of Langkawi, just a ferry ride away, is totally duty free. Eating out is one of the great joys of Malaysia, a social activity that takes place 24 hours a day, seven days a week and seems to involve the entire population. Costs range from less than a £1 per person for a casual – but delicious – snack at one of the hawker stalls, to £5 for a delightful dinner in a small restaurant or club. A sumptuous buffet – wine and beer included – in a premier hotel such as the Eastern and Oriental on the harbour front in Penang, will set you back less than £10 per person. Food of every variety and flavour is available in Penang, a true melting pot of culinary styles. 

Shopping for food and general household products is cheap although the range of products is probably less than you’re used to. The local markets are good value, especially for vegetables which are offered for sale only hours after being picked. There is an abundant choice of fresh fruit, both local and imported and in the wet markets the fish and poultry are killed and prepared to order. The price of most basic ingredients is controlled by the government, so inflation remains low. 

Join the club - An additional expense in Malaysia is club membership. As mentioned earlier, the majority of expatriates who retire to Malaysia join at least one club as membership forms a pleasant part of the social fabric of retired life. Waiting lists for temporary membership are quite short, normally until your cheque has cleared and full membership can be often obtained within three or four months.

Malaysia is blessed with many golf clubs and around both KL and Penang there are at least half a dozen to which non-members can easily drive and use during the week. Green fees are in the £10-20 range, inclusive of buggy. Caddies cost £3 upwards.
In short, money in Malaysia really does go a lot further

Property purchase - There are several points to consider when purchasing a property in Malaysia. It is generally accepted that immigrants are happiest if they settle in an area that offers the safety net of an expatriate community and this narrows down the choice considerably.

There are two large expatriate communities in Malaysia, one in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, referred to colloquially as KL, and the other is in Penang. While the expatriate community in KL is considerably larger than the community in Penang, most expats in KL are on a work permit, while the majority of those in Penang are retirees under the ‘Malaysian My Second Home’ scheme.

It seems logical, for a retiree who is not working, to retire to a non-capital city, where the prices are less, the traffic congestion lower, and the pace of life more in tune with retirement. Even within Penang there are areas which are more suitable than others for an expatriate to live.

Probably the most popular location to either buy or rent is the north coastal belt between the beach at Batu Ferringhi and the Eastern and Oriental hotel in George Town. However, the most common advice to retirees, given by those who have lived here for several years, is not to buy at first, but to rent, and then only to buy when they are absolutely happy about the chosen area. An otherwise idyllic location can quickly lose its charm when the sound of nearby celebrations wakes the retiree before 6 a.m. every morning.

Continues on the next page...