without waiting on this late coming 2008, following code will do what you want.
#pragma option(strict, on)
#include 'slick.sh
_command void
quickSearchVIMode() name_info(',')
{
/* check last highlight, prevent do highlighting twice */
_str curWord = _SymbolWord();
clear_highlights();
mark_all_occurences(curWord,'UP','0','0','0','1','0','0');
find(curWord,'UP');
}
You can map "*" key to this command or edit popup menu to call this command.