In responding to Dr Farish A Noor's 'No options in sight' (Nov 7), both Ketua Penerangan PAS Kawasan PJ Utara ('No U-turns in PAS', Nov 11) and Open Minded ('Options are in abundance for those who will see', Nov 9) highlighted the situation in Iran today, asserting that President Khatami is representing the ulama in spearheading the reform movement.

This in my view, is a misreading of contemporary Iranian politics. While it is true that Khatami comes from their ranks, he has, over the last few years, been trying to loosen the grip of the conservative ulama who have imposed religious totalitarianism and led Iran into economic stagnation in their disastrous experiment with Islamic theocracy that began with the revolution in 1979.

Opposition to the ulama , who have been using the judiciary, other institutions of the state and other less savoury tactics that include physical harassment and assassinations to silence their critiques, grew in the 1990s. Led by dissident intellectuals and a small number of progressive clerics (Khatami was one of them), this received wide support from the young generation disillusioned with the failures of the theocracy.

In a 1992 purge Khatami was relegated from the post of Minister of Culture to that of the head of the National Library. As an underdog candidate, he won the 1997 presidential election, garnering 70 percent of the votes on the strength of his reform agenda. Despite his very modest success at reforms in his first term, (partly blamed on the obstacles posed by the conservative ulama ) he was re-elected with a bigger number of votes this year.

Khatami could not claim the credit as the initiator of reform but he is certainly one of the major voices. At home he is trying hard to change Iran's radical fundamentalist image to that of a moderate Islamic society governed by the rule of law and democratic principles. Internationally he is an ardent promoter of civilisational dialogue, quoting with ease from Plato and the Gospel of St Mark as he does from the Quran.

With reformists' impressive victories in last year's parliamentary elections, the future looks promising for democracy in Iran.