Having lived in Singapore for 25 years and even retiring there for two years, the transition to Malaysia was easy. The Malaysian retirement visa (called MM2H- Malaysia My Second Home) was easy to get, and as already mentioned, the people generally are as friendly as anywhere in the world.
I gave up the MM2H retirement visa to return to the States to retire is because of several reasons. First, it's very difficult or impossible to get health insurance if you are over 60 (I'm 67), and if you do get it, it's expensive. I like Medicare in the US. If I ever got really sick in Malaysia, I'd need to pay out of pocket or sit in an air plane for 24 hours to get back to the States. Second, the air quality at certain times of the year is just awful, and in my 25 years in that part of the world, it's not improving. The burning of forests to clear land on Sumatra and even certain parts of Malaysia bring a haze that can last for months periodically with unhealthy air quality and poor visibility. Third, I have a Labrador Retriever at my current house in the States. The culture of Malaysian does not have the same love for dogs as we do (no criticism). Therefore, condos do not allow dogs at all, and that's at every condo I explored. Fourth, I guess after all these years in Singapore, I was tired of the hot humid weather. I was ready for a change.
When you fly to Malaysia, you automatically get a 3 month tourist visa on arrival. That visa can easily be extended by crossing over the Singapore and back. Many of the people in Malaysia on the retirement visa are not there full time anyway, so if you want to choose Malaysia as a place to spend part of the year there, you really don't need the retirement visa to do that.
Regards,
Rob