The sex trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has become a bore-fest for a worn-out audience, despite having all the makings of a highly charged scandal, full of sordid details of illicit dalliances, accusations of lies and conspiracies.

When Anwar, 63, was initially charged with sodomizing his 25-year-old male aide in 2008, local and international media were

clamouring to get the details as an eager public soaked in what one paper called the scandal of the decade.