The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Security Division has advised final-year mass communications student Ali Bukhari Amir to be more subtle in his choice of words in correspondence with the vice-chancellor.

Ali Bukhari had earlier sent a letter to the vice-chancellor requesting that a letter be issued to confirm that "charges" levelled against him for articles published in PAS political organ Harakah and campus publication Berita Kampus had been dropped.

He forwarded a copy of the letter to the deputy vice-chancellor Academic and Student Affairs and Development Divisions.

The disciplinary committee had called him up last month to respond to the matter, during which Ali Bukhari was verbally told that the 'charges' against him had been dropped.

Yesterday, during a discussion led by USM Security Division head Noor Rizan Khalid, the student was told that the word "charge" in his letter was "too strong".

Ali Bukhari had written: "According to the Security Division head, previous 'charges' have been dropped."

Written explanation

"Perhaps the word is too strong and I apologised to Encik Noor Rizan for this during the discussion," he told malaysiakini by telephone.

However, he has still not been informed of his status on investigations conducted in relation to the contents of his personal website and his role in the formation of a writers' group.

He has been told to provide a written explanation as to why and when he created the website and has been further quizzed about payments received from various publications.

The evidence for this was based on scans of two cheques on his website - RM150 from Utusan Malaysia and RM40 from the Consumer Association of Penang.