As the Sarawak election draws near, the mascot war has started with the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) unveiling its mascot – Bee with the slogan "We Can Bee".

The yellow coloured Bee with a round shield on one of its hand was launched by SUPP on March 14.

This was after the Sarawak DAP revealed its official mascot called 'Ubah warrior' recently.

According to SUPP official website, SUPP president senator Sim Kui Hian said the bee was chosen because it represents hard work, unity, and teamwork.

"Those who bully SUPP, we will sting them.

"Bees always work in unity. Do not bully us, or we will sting you. This is our mascot," said Sim during the launching ceremony.

After SUPP launched the Bee mascot, DAP Pending assemblyperson Violet Yong Wui Wui uploaded a photo of a bird eating a bee to imply that the DAP hornbill mascot "Ubah" will eat the SUPP mascot bee.

She also shared a photo of an insecticide and a bee from the 'DAP must win in the Sarawak election' Facebook page and asked whether the bee can win the Sarawak polls given that an insecticide can kill it.

There is also a graphics interchange format circulated on Facebook showing a bee with the caption "do not bully SUPP or we will sting you". Then the DAP hornbill mascot ‘Ubah’ appears and opens its mouth to eat the bee.

There is another picture of an ape and bee with the caption 'hornbill and ape are the Sarawak state representative animals, why choose the bee rather than the ape?'

SUPP Youth central publicity and information secretary Milton Foo in an interview with See Hua Daily News ticked off DAP for its attack on SUPP, calling it “childish”.

"What we are working on is our political agenda and it's not a joke.

"I don't think the people are too concerned over the attack on our mascot. What the people are more concerned in the next five years is what kind of development can we bring to them, ” said Foo.

He said that SUPP would never attack an opponent's mascot or treat it as a joke.

DAP first launched its mascot 'Ubah' hornbill and upgraded it to the 'Ubah warrior' to face the coming electoral hustings.