Google Now just stopped working saying it's not available in my country

I live in Malaysia and had google now since it's launch. Today, however, I noticed the widget says it's not available in my country. So I checked with my friends and they still have it. I haven't changed any location settings intentionally. My google now just reverted back to old google search.

Any idea what might have caused it?

I've done the following to solve the problem but to no avail:

1. Clear google search cache and data
2. Uninstall google seach updates
3. Remove velvet.apk
4. Reinstall google search updates back
5. Restart phone
6. Check and toggle sync settings

Nothing seems to do the trick. I checked with google dashboard, and it says last active on 2nd July whereas I've never stopped using the phone.

ROM: I9300XXEME2 (4.1.2)
Kernel: Perseus (latest)

Any advice to get me out of this situation?

Thanks in advance!