Read yesterday that Malaysia's the leading country globally in terms of e-wallet/cashless transaction adoption with over 63% of Malaysians using them over cash. This does not surprise me honestly since I myself have not used cash (in Malaysia) 99% of the time for years now, and have not used any of my cards (physically) 90% of the time since 2 years ago when #ApplePay was made available here.
Almost everyone around me too are the same, preferring any of the available #NFC payment methods like #GooglePay and #SamsungPay (which have been around for many years longer here than Apple Pay) when available, or fallback to #DuitNow (QR Pay) through any of the available #eWallet apps like #TNGeWallet or just about any of the first-party #bank apps like #MAE for #Maybank users or #CIMBClicks for #CIMB users.
Almost all shops from your local market and roadside stalls to restaurants or any stores in a shopping mall would at least support QR Pay should they not also have a bank card terminal (for NFC payments). Even my local laundromat and roadside car wash place accept QR Pay for a long while now, instead of how it was in the past constantly having to find change or stock some cash up in your wallet. This was my experience not just in KL/Klang Valley (the city), but also in other rural places throughout the peninsular.
Heck, should you need to, you don't even need your bank card to take out money from an ATM - you only need your phone to do that. My wallet's only filled with foreign money, otherwise I'd only have cash in my possession once~twice a year to give Angpow or Duit Raya. Some government/public facilities I've been to don't even accept cash anymore. I think people just hate having to withdraw cash so often or have change lying around. I suspect this thing is no different in most other #SEA countries, seeing the growing number of countries where Malaysia's DuitNow QR Pay is compatible with - its counterparts.