Overseas = high ping and laggy (Especially when tmnuts stmix backbone to US gets congested, it happens at least once almost every week.)
Local = low ping and fast (It's something like a LAN all ISPs in Malaysia lease their backbone/ bandwidth from TMnet)
I would go for local colocated servers. You've to cari "lobang" if you want cheap colocation local. Means knowing contact with the IDC staffs.
1U rack server rental ranging from RM 200 - 300 per month. You've to do your own home work.
Enom still accepts Malaysian as their domain reseller. You've to fax over your documents to them. Give them an email they'll guide you on the process.
Regarding the DirectAdmin vs cPanel, paying so much for an outdated cPanel which features are almost the same as DirectAdmin is a silly thing in my opinion. Fantastico? Why pay more when you have Installatron. ^_*