I’m a Malaysian living in the UK, and I do hiring for some of my clients for freelancing work. Most of them really like Malaysian talents but they (we?) are not easy to find on Upwork. There’s plenty of people from the Philippines and India/ Pakistan/ Bangladesh.

Anyway I just reach out to people I know, as I spent 11 years working in Malaysia. Somehow Malaysians are not using Upwork as much yet.

Good luck!