KUCHING: The state Barisan Nasional (BN) is ready for the 13th general election which is expected to be held very soon, said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, when speaking to the media during his Hari Raya open house at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) yesterday.
Taib who is also the Sarawak BN chairman added it was up to the federal leaders to decide on the date for the election and the state’s BN election machinery could click into action anytime as the state had just gone through the state election in April this year. “We just came out from one (recently) and the machinery is still there and what we will do is just to activate it.”
He was asked to comment on speculations that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as federal BN chairman would dissolve parliament soon to pave way for the general election.
Recently, Second Planning and Resource Management Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan when commenting on the same subject said the state BN was always ready, particularly PBB.
In the 2008 general election Sarawak BN won 30 out of the 31 seats at stake only losing Bandar Kuching to Chong Chieng Jen from Democratic Action Party (DAP) and last year BN lost one more seat to the DAP during the Sibu by-election, through its state chairman Wong Ho Leng.
Of the 29 parliamentary seats held by BN, PBB has 14, SUPP (5), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), (6) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) (4). The current parliament term expires about 18 months from now but speculations are rife that it could be as early as November this year.