KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is secure once again in Umno after two years of tumult, based on the just-concluded party assembly, where he was praised all around by his chiefs.

Instead, it is the opposition that is in disarray over how to fit new splinter parties and the once-hated Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad into the mix.

It is not hard to see why Datuk Seri Najib, the Umno president, is comfortable enough to say that he aims to call for the general election "soon" after party warlords pledged allegiance to him. The polls are due by August 2018, but are expected to be held next year.

But work needs to be done to ensure loyalty from the ruling party's core vote bank of Muslim Malays, who form the majority in 70 per cent of parliamentary seats.

Amid the rising cost of living, the government has been forced to cut subsidies as the economy slows.

So Datuk Seri Najib chose to go for broke, warning that the opposition - which he said was now led by the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party - would dismantle pro-Malay and Islamic policies if it came into power.

He outlined how his government had benefited Malays economically. And if his administration is given another term, he promised, it would expand race-based affirmative action.

Such tactics by Umno are criticised by the opposition as prizing loyalty over probity.

While investigations into up to US$4 billion (S$5.7 billion) missing from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) are ongoing around the world, including Singapore, Mr Najib - who was chairman of 1MDB's board of advisers - has denied any wrongdoing.

Not a single government or company official has been prosecuted locally. There was barely a whisper about 1MDB at the Umno meeting.

Victory for Umno, it seems, only boils down to solid backing by the Malay majority.