He says,to shore up its support within the Muslim Malay community, the government now has to support or at least tolerate more hardline actions on issues of race and religion.

VOA: standard.2010.02.24

His opposition alliance won the popular vote, securing 50% of the ballot by pledging to remove race-based quotas for the majority but poorer ethnic-Malay community in this mostly Muslim country of 28 million.

WSJ: Personal Feud Powers Malaysian Tensions

Its pledges to unwind a decades-old race-based affirmative action policy designed to give a leg up to the majority ethnic-Malay population and reduce corruption have a strong appeal among mostly younger voters, analysts say.

WSJ: Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak Dissolves Parliament, Paving Way for Elections