Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Joseph Entulu Belaun believes that BN can make a clean sweep in the coming general election by winning all 31 Parliament seats in Sarawak.

The optimisim, according to the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) deputy president, is based on the intelligence gathered by the state BN parties.

“But to get 29 seats out of 31 parliamentary seats is realistic for the state BN in the coming GE14 which could be held anytime from now,” he told The Borneo Post.

Entulu, who is also Selangau MP, said preparations for the coming general election was one of the issues in the agenda of the BN retreat held in Janda Baik, Pahang, over the weekend.

At present, BN holds 21 Parliament seats in Sarawak, whereas DAP has five and PKR one.

Meanwhile, Entulu said securing a big win would strengthen the position of Sarawak BN parties in negotiating the devolution of power with the federal government.

“By this we mean that our various initiatives, such as using English as a medium of instruction in school besides Bahasa Melayu; the recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) and the religious freedom that we have been practising in Sarawak would be more understood by the other states,” he added.

However, the report said Entulu refused to divulge the details of other issues discussed during the retreat, apart from saying it was time for the BN to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

State BN and PBB Youth chief Fadillah Yusof also believes the BN can surpass its performance in the previous general election.

The Petra Jaya MP gave his assurance that PBB would assist its weaker BN partners in the state in the election.

“PBB is the backbone of the state BN and it is our duty to assist other state component parties,” Fadillah added.

However, SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian was more restrained in his analysis, despite being encouraged by Entulu's comments.

Sim said the parliamentary election was unlike the last state election, where the party managed to wrest back some Chinese-majority seats from the opposition.

“The bottom-line is, we will give chance to the young leaders to rejuvenate and transform the party. And included in our proposed name list would be some potential women candidates who we think can create an impact,” he added.

PRS president James Masing said overall, BN is looking at its strength nationwide, where it is able to defend its present seats and should therefore be realistic enough to admit that some states, such as Selangor, Penang and Kelantan, are difficult for BN to win.