Just seen your reply.
Flying in Malaysia is gud fun, there are some interesting places to go to - Penang, the Islands of Pangkor and my favourite Tioman.
The experience of flying here would be something not many get the chance to do. It is also very very cheap.
So if your friend wants to see if flying is really for him then he should give it a try. I agree getting a MY licence may be a bit of a waste of time. But the Ground School exams are very much JAA based so time spent doing those would not be wasted.