Thanks Thermal, things are clear now that there is a document. What I understood from the document:

From the document, one of the pre-requisites is that the foreign license holder "..must hold a professional pilot licence issued by an ICAO contracting state in accordance with ICAO Annex 1." This Annex contains malaysia.

Also it was stated that "For holders of ATPL(A) issued by DCA Malaysia, full credits may be granted for the Technical Group of papers and the ATPL Navigation Group of papers, provided the holder has passed the relevant papers by DCA Malaysia...". Which means I don't have to re-sit the ATPL exams if I were to hold a license from say a school in malaysia that is DCA compliant.

However "...The holder of a foreign pilot licence of an ICAO contracting State applying for conversion should complete Parts I to VI of Form CAAS(FO)01 and submit a copy of his licence and relevant documents as required in Paragraph 8 to the recruitment officer of prospective employer (“air operator”) for screening. The air operator’s recruitment officer is required to
assess the licence and documents for their validity and completeness, and if found satisfactory, he should complete Part VII of Form CAAS(FO)01. Part VIII of Form CAAS(FO)01 requires the Chief Pilot of the air operator fleet or Head of Training to recommend a suitable training programme for the foreign pilot for CAAS’ approval."

The above requires the foreign license holder to apply to CAAS for conversion, through the air operator's recruitment officer and the Chief Pilot. Which means that the foreign license holder's employment must have already been secured with his employers even before application. So besides satisfying all the pre-requisites in the CAAS document, it all boils down to whether the air operator "recognises" the school where I graduated from.

What I need to know is (besides SIA which "recognises" schools like OAT, Massey and MFA), what schools does other air operators like SYFC or whatever operators based in singapore recognise? Are there any cargo air operators based in Singapore?

I'm Singaporean and have nearly zero chance with SIA. I'm assuming the worst case scenario that SFC (full subsidiary of SIA) rejects me for the instructor course, leaving me with not many choices left in Singapore. Of course many singaporeans fly in malaysia. I'm finding options that you may have heard of.

I'm finding as I get older and when reality sets in (yes parent need to eat), I'm getting a little more worried about spending $80k on a license (not including opportunity costs of annual income) and not getting a job.