The country's ruling party holds its annual meeting beginning tonight, and with snap elections anticipated soon, it is aiming to avoid the racial tensions stirred up during last year's congress.

Angry speeches attacking the country's ethnic Chinese and Indian communities overshadowed the last Umno assembly, triggering public outrage and embarrassing its leaders.

Deputy Premier Najib Razak told the New Straits Times on Sunday that speakers would be "guided" this year to avoid causing offence.

"They must be aware that when they speak at the assembly, their speeches are also followed and assessed by those outside the hall, including non-Malays," he told the daily. "What we say should not hurt the feelings of others."

Umno leads the ruling BN coalition which is also made up of component parties representing the other races in Malaysia, which is dominated by Muslim Malays but also home to large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will stress national unity in his keynote address to the assembly on Wednesday, Umno vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin told the state Bernama news agency.

Against a backdrop of rising ethnic tensions in Malaysia, Muhyiddin said the premier would focus on ways to enhance cooperation between the races in economic, social and educational issues.

"Certain quarters had raised issues deemed sensitive, so we want to propose that collaborative efforts be stepped up," he said.

Abdullah has until March 2009 to go to the ballot box but is expected to call snap polls early next year.

The Umno AGM will kick off tonight with Najib addressing the joint session of Umno Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings.

All the three wings will then proceed with separate one-day meetings tomorrow to be followed by the main party meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting will continue until Friday and most controversially the AGM will continue its session on Thursday despite that the country is celebrating Deepavali - the major festival in the Hindu calender.

Growing disenchantment

Opposition parties say he is keen to head off growing disenchantment with his administration, and to sideline former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who is barred from standing from office until April 2008.

Anwar was a celebrated finance minister and heir-apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad until 1998, when he was sacked after sodomy and corruption charges that saw him jailed for six years.

The sodomy conviction has been overturned but the corruption conviction still stands, barring him from standing for public office until April 2008.

The government has already begun gearing up for the polls, launching three big-spending development projects in the Malay heartlands which are expected to be key electoral battlegrounds.

BN has ruled Malaysia for almost half a century. In the March 2004 general elections, Abdullah led the coalition to a landslide victory, winning 198 out of 219 parliamentary seats and all but one of the states.