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I didn't get terribly current with F1 until the 2000 season, and it was a few more years before I saw the Malaysian GP. As such, my perception of the Sepang Circuit is perhaps less colored in a certain light than it is for some people.
Apart from the Turn 7-8 combination and the Turn 9 hairpin, the overall flow at Sepang is very good. Also, the circuit came in before the love affair with paved run-off took hold. Furthermore, this track has some uniqueness lacking in a number of Tilke's more recent designs, and Tilke also hasn't really ever "copied" anything from Sepang to his later designs.
Yes, there are other circuits I like better, but it's certainly one of the best "modern" courses out there. It ranks first or second in my book among Tilke's clean-sheet designs, up there with Istanbul. The others I feel should be mentioned as top "modern", F1-capable circuits are probably Algarve and Dubai. If there is a clean-sheet Tilke design that I might like to see F1 try that it hasn't visited already, it would be Buriram.
Sepang also wasn't thrown into a scenario like the Nurburgring GP Strecke, where that course is in the shadow of the Nordschleife, and was introduced while F1 still had the old Kyalami, Osterreichring, Zandvoort, full Paul Ricard, Brands Hatch GP, etc. on the calendar.
So, yeah, I'd definitely prefer a calendar with Sepang on it than one without, especially while F1 is still running at Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Austin, and Bahrain. And don't get me started on how Tilke butchered Mexico City.
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