Opposition leader and PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim has a lot on his plate.

Defections of the lawmakers, from his party, an average of one for every three months since the general elections in March 2008, have hogged the limelight recently.

And then there is his second sodomy trial which is fast becoming a sordid caper, fit for an airport novel, with one lurid detail after another exposed in the open court.

People have said that the charismatic leader (right), still dashing at 62 years of age, has lost it, and that he is no longer his fiery self.