Some 200 people led by five Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) leaders held a short five-minute demonstration in front of the Kuching DAP headquarters today.

The protestors are upset over a DAP leader’s speech in which he made a pun on SUPP’s name, reflected in banners which read “Sarawakians are not orang utan” and “Don’t insult Sarawakians”.

Chants of “We are not orang utan”, “DAP say sorry”, “Apologise to Sarawakians” and “We are not orang utan” were also chanted during the five-minute rally which began at about 1pm.

Temperatures went up a few notches when a man dressed as Sarawak DAP’s ‘Ubah’ mascot joined a handful of DAP leaders who met the protestors and received their protest note.

Following this, the DAP supporters chanted “Ubah!” in reply to any chants from the SUPP crowd, leaving by-standers and journalists chuckling due to the comedic scene.

After trading barbs for about 30 seconds, the SUPP crowd left the scene. They began their march from the Kuching public swimming pool about five-minute’s walk from the DAP headquarters.

The bone of contention for the SUPP was the speeches made by DAP elections bureau publicity chief Hiew Kuan Yao in Kuching and Miri recently.

Hiew has made it a point in his ceramah to poke fun at SUPP by making a phonetic play on its Chinese name, but turning ren lian tang (literally people’s united party) into ren yuan tang (orang utan party), complete with chest thumping and ape-like sound effects.

SUPP Youth chief Sih Hua Tong told reporters later that Hiew’s speech was highly contemptuous and humiliating towards all SUPP members and Sarawakians.

“If they say that the SUPP is an orang utan, then it also means that they are calling all Sarawakians orang utan because SUPP is part of the government,” he said.

“Malaysians should not look down on anyone. How can (someone from peninsular Malaysia) come here and look down on us?”

‘Just using a figure of speech’

In reply, Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen told reporters that SUPP was overreacting to Hiew’s speech.

“That day, Hiew was just using a figure of speech by calling the DAP watchdogs for the public and the SUPP an orang utan out to protect Pek Moh’s interests,” said Chong.

“This is Hiew’s way of expressing himself. SUPP should not be so sensitive. In politics, if you easily get so sensitive, you will end up with a heart attack.”

All five BN candidates for the Kuching area - Pending, Padungan, Kota Sentosa, Batu Lintang and Batu Kawah - were present.

Sih, who is also an assistant to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, is the BN candidate for Batu Lintang. Also present was Dr Sim Kui Hian, the BN candidate for Pending.

Chong remarked that from this protest, Sim, who is often regarded as a mild-mannered doctor with impeccable credentials and ideals, was changing.

“This has shown that Sim can’t change SUPP, but SUPP can change Sim,” he said.