Nigel,
Have had similar experiences myself, but last night was looking at MH fares on travelocity.com, for routes such as LHR-Kota Kinabalu. The most expensive fare quoted was a J2 and that was under £3k return. Shy of going with someone like Kuwait via BKK & KUL, I doubt you could beat this with discounted fares.....
Cheers
ST