Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has trained his guns on premier Anwar Ibrahim, accusing the government of rejecting the country’s Constitution by scuttling a Malay solidarity rally.

Tun Dr Mahathir was scheduled to attend the Malay Proclamation rally on March 19, but the organisers were forced to scrap the event after several venues cancelled its bookings.

The event was organised to witness the unveiling of a 12-point Malay Proclamation, which argues that under Datuk Seri Anwar and his government, the majority Malay community is losing power.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Dr Mahathir said in Malay that the content of the proclamation complied with the provisions in Malaysia’s Constitution and that of Umno, the Malay party that is part of Mr Anwar’s unity government.

“The obstruction of this launch means that the Anwar government rejects the Federal Constitution and the Umno Constitution,” he said.

“When the government prevents other parties from launching this proclamation, it betrays the promises in the country’s Constitution.”

Dr Mahathir claimed Malays had “lost everything” after he resigned as prime minister in 2020 following the collapse of the then Pakatan Harapan government.

This was why he wanted to hold the Malay Proclamation gathering to make the community realise the issues they are facing.

Dr Mahathir, 97, served as premier twice – from 1981 to 2003, and from 2018 to 2020 – and resigned both times. He lost his parliamentary seat of Langkawi in the 2022 general election.

In the run-up to the rally, Mr Anwar had ordered security forces to be alert against those stirring up racial and religious rhetoric.

On March 18, he alluded to someone “who had been in power for 22 years and (later) an additional 22 months” using his position to enrich his family and himself.

While Mr Anwar did not mention Dr Mahathir by name, he also said the person was complaining about Malays losing their dominance only after he was no longer in power.

The following day, Mr Anwar said – without naming names – that desperate leaders who have lost power are manipulating sensitive issues.

Dr Mahathir on Monday demanded that the Prime Minister back his claim.

“I want Anwar to provide proof that I enriched my family and myself,” he said. “Making accusations is easy, but accusations that are not proven cannot be accepted as truth. It is slander.”

Dr Mahathir had previously said he had no evidence that Mr Anwar was behind the sudden cancellation of the rally, but he accused the Prime Minister of being a dictator who has been displaying increasing intolerance of free speech by attacking the opposition and his critics.