i try to answer, if others find it wrong, please correct.
1. PB fund buy direct from bank, Public Mutual buy through agent. Both fund categories are handled by Public Mutual.

2. Fees are same for PB or Public fund.

3. Should go for equity fund, since bond fund are about similar return with EPF. Check which fund is Local EPF at fund price,

http://www.publicmutual.com.my/application.../fundprice.aspx

Then check which equity left which still open for investment.

http://www.publicmutual.com.my/Resources/A...cementNews.aspx

Then you already minimize your option.

I only have south-east asia funds (PSEASF and PBADF). I could be having it (PINDOSF) latter in the year; I read some comment that there could be a brief pullback in Indonesia and it could drop as much as 12%.

With yesterday Nikkei's sudden drop of 7% after it opened in positive territory, I'm more inclined to believe anything could happen.

Stock markets 1-year and year-to-date gains (from today's bloomberg):
KLCI 18.67% 6.38%
STI  25.77%  8.71%
ASX 30.60% 9.59%
JCI 32.72% 20.67%
SET 47.32% 17.58%
HSI 25.74% 0.96%

The 1-year figures are moving, and could varies much if it hits some deep troughs or peaks. It was as high as 50% for Indonesia and Thailand.

The YTD figures are accumulations for the year. KLCI is still way behind JCI and SET.

2 ways for KLCI to catch up - run faster or other horses run slower. Or maybe KLCI will never catch-up. Who knows?
"islamic dividend" still not clear enough.    PIDF - Public Islamic Dividend Fund. 

The other small-cap horses were all running too fast to catch - already missed the opportunity; and all these small-cap horses already gained more than what they did last year.
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Foreign horses.

Don't forget there's currency risk in betting on foreign horses.

If ringgit goes from RM3.05 to RM2.96, it is a 3% gain. Which means a sudden lost of 3% in the NAV price when the value of the foreign horse is converted to ringgit NAV.

This happened on Monday immediately after GE13. Thankfully, it never occurs too often, and the ringgit is moving slowly back above 3.00. But it does remind me of the risk in not having any local horses in the stable at all.
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P.S. PIDF is not a small-cap fund. It is heavy on blue chips. From its 2012 Oct report, it has some reits, and some small percentage in Taiwan and Singapore; hence the reason its NAV price is updated next day unlike the 100% local funds which are updated at about 7.30pm. Syariah compliant - so no Genting, Berjaya Sports, Carsberg or Guinness; if you want these stocks, go for PDSF (Public Dividend Select Fund).

For a first fund, would suggest a "moderate-to-aggressive" classified fund. See the given list in the previous page. Public Mutual is good on moderate, local funds for the long term; especially now that the stock market is quite volatile and KLCI at above 1770 points.

Also if the withdrawal is in excess of 10k, an option is to go into a bond fund and then switch partially over several months to an equity fund. Find the recent post on this option for more details...

Cheers.

has it been 3 months since your last withdrawal? if yes, ask the person who submit the application for you to ask KWSP