I'm getting a bit tired with this 'Anwar-worshiping' that has suddenly become fashionable again, after six long years.

True, Anwar Ibrahim was a victim of gross injustice which must be corrected and he must be given adequate compensation especially if the Federal Court on Sept 15 reverses its own finding that Anwar was guilty of corruption.

How the Federal Court can do such amazing legal acrobatics and still retain its credibility is of course, another issue.

But, Anwar is no Nelson Mandela. Anwar was part and parcel of the corrupt, cronyistic and racist Barisan Nasional/Umno government especially when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was at the helm.

It was his political fall-out with Mahathir that got Anwar persecuted, and not because that he held any grand vision of a fair, free, democratic, equal and just society - as we are sometimes led to believe.

In his previous high government position he never advocated, articulated or did anything to advance the cause of equality, freedom and justice.

Did he advocate against the Internal Security Act, the University and University Colleges Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and other repressive legislation? Did he speak out against abuses in implementing the New Economic Policy? No, he did not.

Indeed, the archaic racist and discriminatory laws and practices in Malaysia ensures an anachronistic reminder that aparthied is alive and well in the 21st century.

While I sympathise wholly with Anwar's sufferings, please do not compare him to Mandela for that would do a great injustice to the latter who is the greatest living statesman in the world.

Frankly, I'd rather support Pak Lah's promised reforms than to trust someone who was, even in his heyday, considered a political chamaeleon by friend and foe alike.