KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad this morning attended the Himpunan Rakyat rally today in front of Gate 2, Istana Negara.

The objective of the rally was to give a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Sha on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s alleged defamatory statements made against the King.

Brickfields police chief assistant commissioner Amihizam Hj Abdul Suhkor in a statement said the Himpunan Rakyat rally was organised by Pembela Tanah Air (Peta).

Among other matters mentioned in the memorandum was regarding the group's stance on the current government’s incompetency.

Dr Mahathir was initially supposed to give his statement to the police regarding his recent remarks questioning the loyalty of ethnic Indians and ethnic Chinese to Malaysia at 11 am today at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya but it has been rescheduled to 3pm.

The 98-year-old’s controversial remarks were reported to have been made during an interview with a South Indian TV channel called Thanthi TV.