According to the government site, if you are under 50, you must deposit money. If you are over 50, you can either deposit money or show an income of RM10,000 per month from a pension. Since that is about USD3,100 per month, I'm sure there are plenty of people getting that from government pensions. However, the requirement is not for a government pension, but a pension. What they don't want is people aritificially and temporarily jacking up their investments to make it look as if they have an adequate income when they don't. So, official pensions only, or money deposited in Malaysia. This is typical of a lot of retirement visa programs. Panama's is similar, but requires a much lower income.