streetguy, I can't really remember how long I waited, sorry, but I waited much longer than the rest of the malaysians because I had some problems with my employment pass. Basically, Malaysians have to wait a bit longer for the process of Minister of Manpower I believe, and even much longer if you don't have a degree.
swifter, I don't think I know middlekingdom. I can advice you guys to start reading on Gas Turbines, Theory of Flight and Airframe systems while waiting if you are free. I don't know what to do for ATPL as I'm still in tech phase though. I'm kindda struggling now cause I didn't do it back then.
Cheers.