Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said today the Sarawak BN is gearing for the state election, which must be held by July next year, but stopped short of hinting how soon it will be held.

Taib, who is also Sarawak BN chairman, said all the leaders of the four Sarawak BN component parties were instructed to get ready during the two-day annual state BN retreat at the Mulu National Park in Miri, which ended yesterday.

azlan "It (state polls) can be held soon or it can be later, it does not matter very much but we are preparing ourselves to face it," he told reporters after opening the Napolean Hill Convention 2010 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) in Kuching.

The retreat is a forum for the state BN elected representatives and political secretaries to identify issues and problems which need to be solved before the election.

Asked if he had any favourite numbers, which would be reflected in the timing of the state assembly's dissolution to pave the way for the polls, Taib said such an approach was not important as the BN's priority was to focus on the people's interest instead of just winning elections.

"What is more important for us (state BN) is to keep the politics related to the question of improving the lot of the people and not just winning debates or trying to capture power," he said, adding that certain quarters had captured power but did not know how to use it for the people's benefit.

Snap to go back to BN?

During the 2006 state election, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) won 34 of the 71 state seats, followed by Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) with 11, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) nine and the Sarawak Progresive Democratic Party (SPDP) eight.

NONE On a related issue, Taib said the question of whether the Sarawak National Party (Snap) could be accepted back in the government, following the Court of Appeal's decision to set aside its de-registration, needed to be discussed with the other state BN partners.

"A lot of water has gone under the bridge (since Snap opted out of the BN alliance) and other parties have gone in and proven themselves in the elections to be quite viable," he said, referring to SPDP, the offshoot of Snap and PRS, which was formed after Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was deregistered due to its leadership crisis.

"You don't just kick them out and replace them with other people," he added.

- Bernama