Umno grassroots members today presented an unusual show of force to its leaders when over 1,000 members turned up at the party headquarters urging Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to be more stern on non-Muslims using the word 'Allah'.

The members - who were from Pasir Salak Umno - converged near the entrance of the Umno headquarters bearing banners, which among them read: ‘Allah just for Muslims, fight no fear: defend to the last drop of blood’, ‘Malaysia for Malays, don't be ignorant of history’ and ‘Do not insult Ketuanan Melayu’.

However, the protesters were mindful to repeatedly express support for Najib while also urging for tougher action on the 'Allah' controversy.

"We support the leadership of Prime Minister Najib to defend the sacred word 'Allah'.

"(Due to) the insolence of certain parties which insulted Islam by using the word 'Allah' in the Bible - this is our jihad," declared Pasir Salak Umno information secretary Azmi Ismail.

Azmi - who claimed the crowd was 2,500-strong - had been constantly updating them on the progress of the Umno supreme council meeting which was ongoing in the party headquarters, and urged them to chant: "Defend the word ‘Allah’. Long live Islam, long live Malays, long live Umno" when they see Najib.

After waiting for close to an hour, Azmi announced that the meeting was over and the crowd swarmed the entrance of Menara Hussein Onn where the Umno headquarters was situated.

Later, Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, who is also an Umno supreme council member, emerged and shouted “Support Najib!” and his supporters followed suit.

He also injected anti-DAP slogans into the protest, leading them to chant: “Damn (Jahanam) DAP, DAP is insolent (kurang ajar), damn Lim Kit Siang, damn Lim Guan Eng, Anwar is a traitor.”

Tajuddin was seen urging his supporters to do more “Support Najib” chants.

‘Najib expressionless’

Several Umno supreme council members had to squeeze their way out, and later Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim attempted to create order among the rowdy crowd.

A smiling Najib finally emerged with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin some 20 minutes later, as he shook hands with some of the protesters. However, he appeared stiff and was without expression when the crowd began to shout out their pledge in unison.

Part of the pledge sounded: “We Pasir Salak Umno division support the prime minister and government in defending the sacred word ‘Allah’ from being insulted and misused by other religions”.

When the pledge was over, Najib smiled and shook a few more hands before being hurried onto his official vehicle which was just a few steps away. He did not utter any words throughout.

Najib was supposed to be in Putrajaya for a government event at 6pm but was only able to leave the Umno headquarters at 6pm.