Yeh you're totally right, but the domain name is an even smaller part of the whole process. What really counts is back tags. That's why all of the popular sutes are at the top of the list. It sux but that's the way it is. The point is that most people are definately saying the hyphens don't work and that's the cold hard truth, eh?
If you have keywords in your domain name separated by hyphens, then it makes the whole linking process easier. Instead of relying on text hyperlinks, you'll just need a simple link for your site http://.... to get the benefit of search weight for that keyword for your domain name. I have several domains with keywords separated by hyphens. Surprise, surprise, they all rank well (#1 in some cases) and no one has a problem buying from me.
you may try another flavor with the country name at the start, like malaysiajobsvacancy.com (job is taken..) o rmalaysiaparttimejob.com cheers