Prominent lawyer and opposition politician Karpal Singh has declared that ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim should not be written off.

Despite all that has befallen him, all was not lost in Anwar's case, he was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald . There was still recourse to clemency.

Karpal said a royal pardon could "restore public confidence in the executive, the judiciary and the law. Let the royalty be the vindicator".

This month Anwar attacked Malaysia's highest court as a corrupt tool of the government after it dismissed his appeal against part of his sentence on the charges.

In his address to the New South Wales Bar Association last night, Karpal warned that the dismissal had dented public confidence in Malaysia's judiciary.

"The judiciary had been weak, he said, and [Prime Minister] Dr Mahathir's "overbearing influence" had "cowed many a judge"

He recalled his many visits to Anwar in prison and said that "I find that he (Anwar) still has got that resilience which I think will get him through the end of it all