these days, if you want to compare prices of two country, dont have to do spot check. Can easily get it done from worldwide web. And East Malaysia is not exactly the right place for this mission as the good prices there is generally 10% more expensive than the west malaysia. and beside, exchange rate and future economic performance will deter the direction of exchange rate. If your idea is to settle down in malaysia for a foreseeable future of 5 to 10 years, better use other factors such as good environment, ease of communication and food varieties as yardstick.