Whilst a 1945 trained army with 1841 weapons could have been a bad thing for the Japanese the Japanese army was at it's most vulnerable at sea approaching Malaya. Anything that can strike the troopships before they land their troops and/or return for more will have more impact that the same resources deployed on land. It may be cool to picture carriers steaming to launch decisive air strikes but this is not the deep Pacific. It is a (very large) coastline open only to the east. Land based maritime strike is a better choice. What carriers can do is appear with a air strike capacity where land based aeroplanes cannot. A squadron of Bostons for example, will deliver far more bang than a carrier squadron and has the fuel and bombs to maintain action over weeks without steaming away to refuel and rearm in a port days away. In 1941 one might have (War Cabinet willing)
Wellingtons
Hampdens
Blenheims
Bostons
Battles
Henleys
Hudsons
Beauforts
All of which need fighter cover. It is said that bombs let in air but torpedos let in water which is a correct view of attacking warships with armour and damage control. But troopships are unarmoured and vulnerable to fires and damage control is hard. To strike at the naval vessels torpedos are the answer but bombs at low level by trained aircrew will do very nicely for the troopships. If you want torpedoes then you have to look at the spare FAA resources additionally to the above to whit
Albacore
Swordfish
Shark
Vildebeest
These will not live in a defended environment no matter how brave the crews but can operate at night by moonlight or flares.
Not normally mentioned when defending Malaya is spoken of is that Burma was being invaded at more or less the same time by land across northern Thailand eve if you hold Malaya.
We're coming up with some useful lists of possible reinforcement types but a fundamental problem remains: reinforcing Malaya will not help Brooke-Popham decide when to act. Throughout most of 1941, Brooke-Popham (CinC Far East) was directed to report back to London before taking any military action. After months of lobbying, in late November 1941, London finally gave Brooke-Popham freedom to act on his own initiative. However, this is a lesson in being careful about what you ask for, because Brooke-Popham essentially now had the power to declare war on Japan and commit Britain to combat on yet another front.
The key challenge for Brooke-Popham was knowing where and when to respond militarily. If he attacked Japanese forces without provocation and before they committed any proven hostile acts, he would be the aggressor. Japan was conducting a strong psyops campaign against countries in the region, and were painting Britain and the US as the ones who were forcing Japan to act. If Brooke-Popham responded to quickly, or attacked a feint by Japanese forces, Tokyo could justifiably play the victim card. Conversely, if Brooke-Popham waited too late to respond, the Japanese could establish a beachhead and his inexperienced, and poorly-equipped defenders would be on the back foot before the real fighting had begun.
As others have noted, any increase in aircraft must be accompanied by improvements to airfield defences, to include more ground troops to prevent the rapid overrunning of airfields near the northeast coast of Malaya. A night-time attack against the troopships is the only viable method to maximize attrition before Japanese soldiers land on the beaches. The problem with a night attack is getting to the right spot without navaids. As it was, the existing aircraft did inflict significant damage on the invasion force...just not enough to prevent the landings.
To the final point above regarding Burma, that was the strategic genius of the attack on northern Malay and southern Thailand. Success there enabled the Japanese forces to drive a wedge between the British forces in Malaya and those in Burma, giving the Japanese interior lines where air assets could mutually support operations to the south and to the northwest. If the British could prevent the landings on the east coast of the Kra Isthmus, it would entirely unhinge the Japanese attack plans.
P.S. Minor note but the Vildebeest was a RAF aircraft, not FAA.