KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife turned up at a rally on Saturday night in the Malaysian capital where protesters were demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak over an alleged multi-million-dollar transfer of state funds to his personal bank account.

The crowd surrounded Dr Mahathir after he got out of his car, the Malaysiakini news portal reported.

The former leader told the Malay Mail Online that he was at Dataran Merdeka to "see" the situation. The Star Online said Dr Mahathir walked for a while at Dataran Merdeka and left after five minutes.

The couple arrived here from Johor where Dr Mahathir attended a dialogue.

Local media reports estimated the crowds at up to 80,000, while the organiser Bersih said the rally attracted 200,000 people at its peak during the day.

Small rallies were also held in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, as well as overseas in cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to Bersih.