Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is an exceptionally busy man these days. Within a span of two weeks, he has covered the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia, visiting small towns with significant Chinese population in lieu of the Lunar New Year celebrations.

If any indication were to come from his travelings around Peninsular Malaysia, it would be that he is making rounds to gauge public sentiment just before calling the general elections. After all, Najib is riding on pretty good sentiment and popularity, following the cash and book vouchers disbursement he has promised last year, as well as with the acquittal of opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, of his sodomy charges in January.

Malaysia’s 13th general election is widely expected to be called by Najib within the next month or so, and it is said that school halls have already been notified to be on standby mode as voting centres. While Najib has until 2013 to call the elections, the general view is that he is likely to make Malaysians vote within the next few months.

The rationale behind this is that the longer he delays in calling the elections, the more uncertainties he would face in renewing his mandate in the midst of the bleak global economic climate that would affect Malaysia’s growth, starting from the third half of the year onwards. Further, he wouldn’t want to give his political opponents more time in consolidating their strength and strategies, as a strong opposition would put him at a disadvantaged position.

That said, Najib is known to be a conservative and risk-adverse political leader. One view is that he may want to delay the elections and secure his position first as president in the coming United Malays National Organization (UMNO) internal elections slated to be in mid-2012. This is because the presidency in UMNO secures his position as Malaysia’s Prime Minister.

If he calls the elections within the next one or two months, he is not likely to get the two-third majority that is pivotal to him securing a strong mandate. An unimpressive victory would, in turn, affect his footing in UMNO, as the dominant party of Barisan Nasional may come after him for not getting a convincing victory at the general elections. Then, what will become of him?

A simple majority also does not look good for the country due to heightened political risk that usually does not sit well with foreign investors.

Hence, Najib has every reason to be even more careful this time round. The stakes are high for him to get back a two-third majority win. But, to get the two-third majority, Najib would have to win more support from urban and Chinese-predominant areas, and he needs time to build support from the savvy voters that have access to alternative media sources.

That means he has to settle a few issues that the opposition has been harping on recently. Among the major issues include the National Feedlot Corporation scandal involving UMNO Women’s Chief Sharizat Jalil and Lynas Corp’s controversial rare earth mining plant.

But, these are not immovable barriers. Najib could easily win back some support by bowing to public pressure and showing more political will that he is in charge of things.

At the end of the day, it is most likely true that Najib can afford to wait a little while, but just not too long.