Yes, and according to the First Schedule to the Solicitors' Remuneration Order 2005:

...in the case of any transaction governed by the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 [Act 118] or any subsidiary legislation made under that Act, the remuneration of the solicitor having the conduct of and completing the transaction, whether acting for the vendor or the purchaser, shall be-


(a) RM250, if the consideration is RM45,000 or below;


(b) 75% of the applicable scale fee specified, if the consideration is in excess of RM45,000 but not more than RM100,000;


© 70% of the applicable scale fee specified, if the consideration is in excess of RM100,000 but not more than RM500,000; or


(d) 65% of the applicable scale fee specified, if the consideration is in excess of RM500,000.

Helpful? 

1) This thread is not to put down developer's panel solicitors or bank panel solicitors. It is not to suggest that they are incompetent or biased. It's to give you enough information to put things in perspective so that you can make an informed decision at the end of the day, after having weighed all the pros and cons.

The choice is ultimately yours at the end of the day. 

Who can say for sure whether the developer's panel solicitors will actually (as you say) "less likely to entertain or act on your behalf if there is any dispute in the future"?

Unless you have a crystal ball which can predict the future, even you can't tell whether there's even going to be a problem or otherwise, right? For all you know, the developer's solicitor can be later kicked out of the panel, and to exact 'revenge', he may agree to act for you to file a civil suit for damages for late delivery, for instance, if the event occurs.

2) Disbursements for purchase from developer is really not much. How much of "huge cost" can they charge you anyway? If you're really worried about it, get a quotation from the solicitor and put it up here for us to take a look and advise you further. 

1) You can apply for a loan but technically, you can't execute the loan documentation before you execute the S&P. I think what you meant to say was sign the Letter of Offer from the bank,right? In that case, yes you can.

2) Hope you understand the flow from the above explanation, but let me try to reproduce it here again:

Sign Offer to Sell (pay booking deposit 2%)  -> Sign S&P -> Sign letter of offer -> sign loan documentation

or

Sign Offer to Sell (pay booking deposit 2%)  -> Sign letter of offer -> sign S&P -> sign loan documentation

The second scenario is more secure as there would be a problem if you sign the S&P but later, you can't secure a loan [eg due to insufficient income docs or low valuation]. In such cases, the S&P would have to be aborted (unless you can come up with cash to make up the shortfall), and the vendor actually has the right to forfeit the 10% deposit.