Chinese Politics in Sarawak: a Study of the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (Supp)

Abstract

The Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) is Sarawak's oldest political party. The study will seek to explain why the SUPP has been able to [i] change from a left-wing, anti-Malaysia political entity into a establishment Barisan Nasional component party, and [ii] consistently secure the votes of the Sarawak Chinese community in successive state elections. This is in contrast to other Chinese-based BN political parties such as the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Gerakan which has increasingly seen a deterioration of their Chinese electoral support to the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). The study argues that SUPP's success is due to several factors, the most important being a regional party concentrating in only one state (Sarawak); other being able to harness a strong sense of Sarawak nationalism; ability to be power-brokers between the Muslim bumiputera and the non-Muslim Bumiputeras in Sarawak. A chronological descriptive-analytical approach is taken and the period covered will be SUPP's formative years in the late 1960s to the state election in 1991. Emphasis will be paid to SUPP performance at elections.