The best place to park your cash is in KPF — Koperasi Permodalan Felda Berhad, as far as I know at least. There are others such as Koperasi Bank Rakyat and Koperasi Angkatan Tentera, but the former is always full (I heard) and membership to the latter is limited to current or retired military personnel (not open to family members).
KPF membership is also limited. It is only open to Felda settlers and staff. However, immediate family members of settlers (not sure about staff) can also be members, under their own name. There is an investment cap per family (not per member), currently set at RM250k. This is a bummer, but news are going around that they are launching a second coop (KPF2) for settlers’ second generation.
Here are past performances of KPF which I took from their website (old and new) and plot them on Excel:
KPF was established in 1980 and their annual total returns (dividend + bonus) since then never dipped below 10%. Total payout has grown substantially over those years, and close to 100% of net profit (after both tax and zakat) are returned to investors. Excellent, what more could you ask?
If you’re eligible but have not taken advantage of this exceptional cash storage, go apply now!
These are great returns, but what do they invest in? I’d advise caution in investing in funds if you are not sure of what their investments are. I don’t know of any fund anywhere in the world that made a 12.5% return in 2008 except bear funds (which actively short the market) and Bernie Maddoff’s fund (which was exposed as a ponzi-scheme). :)
In my humble opinion, the best investment in Malaysia (from a return vs. risk perspective) is the Islamic Gold Dinar. In any global currency including both United States Dollars (USD) and Malaysian Ringgits (MYR), the value of gold has gone up exponentially since 2000 and will likely continue to do so in the foreseeable future as central banks continue with easy monetary policy and governments keep fiscal deficits. Gold is increasingly been seen as an alternative currency to paper fiat currency and I hope one day it will return to its official place as a medium of exchange. Historical note: the world stopped using the gold-standard in 1971.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_gold_dinar#Gold_dinar_in_Malaysia
Selam,
E