There has always been confusion between the fight against colonialism and hatred of "white men", says jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim in an undated and previously unpublished article.

The former deputy premier and deputy Umno president, who was sacked from both positions in 1998, says the two issues are not one and the same thing.

His wife and Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail made the article available to malaysiakini and PAS political organ Harakah , following the uproar caused when Umno president and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad opened the party's general assembly last Thursday.

Mahathir had launched a vitriolic attack on the European race, accusing them of "warmongering, indiscriminate attacks on Muslims, greed and sexual deviancy".

He said that Europeans, including "those who migrated and set up new nations in America, Australia and New Zealand", wanted "to control the world again".