Hundreds of supporters of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim turned up at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya yesterday with an assortment of banners and placards.

Among them were PKR members with posters depicting an image of "Justice Bao", who during his service as a government officer under China’s Song Dynasty, demonstrated honesty and uprightness.

However, a local academician believes that the posters of Justice Bao were brandished with an ulterior motive: to portray Malay judges as "corrupt".

According to Institut Kajian ArusBaru Malaysia's analyst on history and the Federal Constitution, Zul Fahmi Bahrudin, the posters were carried with the agenda to "glorify the Chinese race".

"It is as if they are showing another way to demean the credibility of the judiciary, apart from the slogan 'Rakyat Hakim Negara' (people are the nation's judges)

"They want to show that the judges in Malaysia, especially the Malay judges involved in Anwar's case, are corrupt and not credible," Zul Fahmi is quoted as saying in Ismaweb today.

Acknowledging that Justice Bao is a symbol of justice, he went on to question the need to walk around, now, with this image.

"It is as if the Chinese have more credibility when it comes to the judicial system and that the Malays are corrupt.

"There are also similar figures who symbolise fairness and transparency in Malay history, for example Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah," Zul Fahmi said.

The Federal Court yesterday maintained Anwar's Sodomy II conviction and the five-year jail sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal.

The opposition leader has always claimed that the charge against him is politically-motivated and unleashed a scathing indictment on the judges from the dock after the verdict was delivered.