HillerBee,
I think that an important note when you go for initial helicopter training is that as many hours as possible is done in Helicopters (not fixed wing).
Flying fixed wing is really nice as well, but I think that you are better off when trying to find that first job if you have as many hours as possible helicopter experience!
I should try to find a course were all flight training should be done in helicopter, even if it was a Robinson R22 (whichs is an excellent trainer
). If you do all your CPL training in piston engine helicopters it's then easy to do a turbine type training later on.
I'm note sure but the DGA (if I remember right, Malaysian CAA) will maybe recognise a JAR licence (you might only need to do the Malaysian Air-Law Exam) which is very close to the JAR (old UK CAA rules!). It might be worth checking up with the Malaysian authorities.
There is a guy in Malaysia who is Robinson's dealer and I know that he had some plans couple of years ago to start up helicopters training in Malaysia, I think it was in KL. Hes name is Cliff Fournier, contact him and see if he have any training available?
Good Luck
