"Mr. Najib's win wasn't the result the urban middle classes were expecting, " said James Chin, a visiting fellow at the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

WSJ: Malaysia Opposition Leader Vows to Fight 'Rigged' Vote

"They were close to getting a two-thirds majority, and that will mean a stable and secure government, " said James Chin, a Malaysian political science professor and a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

WSJ: Malaysian Prime Minister Wins Election

"What remains to be seen is whether Lewis is up to exerting influence in the alien administrative context of Singapore and NUS, " said Michael Montesano, a research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore and a Yale alumnus.

WSJ: Yale's Singapore Joint Venture Taps a President