The national side were invited to the 1981 Merdeka Cup run annually by the Malaysian football federation in honour of the Hari Merdeka which is a national day of Malaysia commemorating the independence of the Federation of Malaya from British colonial rule. This gave the national team an opportunity to play competitive football against other Asian nations generally from outside of the Persian Gulf region.
Indonesia 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
India 
Japan 
New Zealand 
Tunisia