Here's my experience and opinion as a graduate from UM in economics.

1. Pretty much the best Malaysia can offer.

2. Nope, unless you are relatively weak in abstract reasoning. It is a master course after all (and not phd) so it is still a study + academic paper course. You don't have to publish your research to graduate.

3. Again, pretty much the best Malaysia can offer. Facilities are top notch. All the resources you need to excel are there. Most lecturers are highly experienced in research and publication. Students quality is good i suppose. They produce some of the best economists in Malaysia. Do note that if you have a specific area of research, UM might not have the best expertise in that specific area but generally, they are the best.

4. IIUM's Kulliyyah of Economics and Management is probably one of the best in the world for Islamic economics but they are not to the level of UM for conventional economics. UPM and UKM are imo the second best for economics as these 2 universities some very experienced professors. UM is still better overall but it may depend on your area of research.

5. Pretty much 100%.

6. $500 usd is more than enough. My living costs was about $250 per month when I studied there.

7. Master in economics graduate is well versed and you should have no problem getting a decent job in Malaysia. Do note that some Malaysians may discriminate due to your religion and nationality but generally, you won't have any problem. However, if you plan to go into academia, you may need a phd.

From the hearsay of my class mates in UKM S.Ekon years ago, there is no such thing as a good or bad university among the established government universities (even UITM!).

What you gain from investing 2 years of your life to study in any decent university in Malaysia depends on what you are prepared to put in. For example, if the development economics course covers 8 topics, you can (1) learn all 8 topics conscientiously or (2) only study 4 of the topics that the lecturer told the class will be in the exam. 

the lecturer taught all 8 topics but its your choice as to whether the B grade you got for the course means you actually gained knowledge of 4 or 8 topics in development economics.

1. I've taken some courses in Master in Economics. It's quite good, many experience professors. You can select the topic and supervisor for your research paper from first semester.

2. It's okay if you're full time student. I know some people who drop out from this course because of the study workload + full time job. You need CGPA of 3.00 to pass. About 10% of students graduated with CGPA 3.7 and above each year.

3. Facilities are okay. Lecturers are good (as far as I know). Most of your classmate will be working students.

4. Not sure.

5. Very high chance.

6. Room with your requirement is around usd200 to usd250. Many cheap eateries. Groceries are cheap too. Your budget is okay to live decently since it's around starting salary of fresh graduate in Malaysia.

7. You can choose to apply to MNCs which are plenty in Kuala Lumpur.

You might want to consider Master in Applied Statistics which is in same faculty as Master in Economics. Since you aspire to be in academia, this program can greatly
help you to conduct quantitative research later during PhD. If you want to pursue the industry, the analytical side of this program can give you an edge for employment. You can still takes
some elective economic courses if you love to know more on economics.

I believe it is very doable by you considering your good grade. I had classmates from different background (accounting, engineering, finance) whom learnt basic statistics only and
they can manage this course well. IMO, you can just brush up your statistics & probability understanding using khanacademy course and you'll be fine to take this master.
I'm not sure you can change course in master level.

Yes I graduated from master in app. stats (Mappstat). It's very application-based course as the name suggest. There actually another master in statistics in UM that is very theoretical and they select only those with strong mathematical background. While Mappstat can be taken by those that have some experience in calculus/statistics.

We use softwares, mainly SPSS, R and Eview.
I heard that if you want to change master course, you need to quit from the course and apply back next semester (no simple major switching, I could be wrong). You can email UM for confirmation.

Where'd u get ur banking and finance degree from? which university?

That's a pretty high GPA. UM's requirement is only 3.5 gpa. so its good news for u