Malaysia’s lower living costs, MM2H visa, anti-Israel stance are luring expats – but can they stay long term?

Muslims from Canada to the UK are seeking to move to multicultural Malaysia for its pro-Palestinian stance and ‘liberating’ environment for believers

Its affordability and ‘friendlier’ golden visa rules edge out Singapore and Thailand, but observers note there’s a tough road to permanent residency

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The Kuala Lumpur skyline. Malaysia is moving up as an expat destination. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:30am, 6 Apr 2024Updated: 1:14pm, 10 Apr 2024

The Salehs were so appalled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s staunch diplomatic defence of Israel at the expense of the Palestinian people, that the Ontario couple decided to move their family 12,000km away across the world to Malaysia.

Now Muhammad William, his wife Sana, and their three children, live in Kuala Lumpur and run a YouTube channel with 1.28 million subscribers.

Their recent videos on the “Saleh Family” YouTube channel extol the allure of relocating to the Southeast Asian nation. But the push factors were just as important in making up their minds.

“We continuously watched our leaders in Canada making statements in support of Israel and we couldn’t bear the fact that our tax dollars were contributing to this,” Sana told This Week in Asia.

The Saleh family in Langkawi, Malaysia, during an island-hopping excursion in February. Photo: Handout

They chose Malaysia over other Muslim-majority countries because attitudes in the Southeast Asian nation towards Israel’s six-month assault on Gaza were “completely opposite” of those in Canada.

“We see the Palestinian flag everywhere; they boycotted companies that supported Israel,” Sana said. “It is the simple fact that Malaysia is not afraid to stand up and say: ‘Hey, we support Palestine and the Palestinian cause’.”