A University Utara Malaysia (UUM) student leader has filed a police report against malaysiakini , claiming that the news portal has published a letter purportedly written by him.

According to New Straits Times online today, both the university authorities and UUM's student representative council deputy president Husnul Hadi Halim want the police to investigate those responsible for the publication of the letter.

The letter carried on June 30 urged university students not to be fearful of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Universities and University Colleges Act.

NST reported that 22-year-old Husnul, a third-year accounting student, has denied writing the letter and has lodged the report to disassociate himself from it.

The report said Husnul, who was accompanied by UUM vice-chancellor Dr Ahmad Fawzi Basri at a press conference today, claimed that a fake e-mail account registered under his name was used to send the letter to malaysiakini .

"Ahmad Fawzi said the university viewed the matter seriously as the contents of the letter could be construed as incitement," said the report.

He added that the university would not be taking any action against Husnul pending police investigation.

Ahmad was also reported as saying that the university had also questioned the student council president Norhelmi Jamil.

Husnul was reported as claiming that the e-mail used to send the letter to malaysiakini , husnulhadi@hotmail.com, was not his and could have been registered by anyone else.

"I immediately sent a denial to malaysiakini.com using my e-mail address, nun79@yahoo.com, and lodged a report at the Bukit Kayu Hitam police station on July 5," he said.

Hasnul added that malaysiakini then apologised to him and promised to review its process of verifying identities of those who sent letters for publication via e-mail.

Problem rectified

Malaysiakini news editor Fathi Aris Omar said that steps were immediately taken to rectify the problem after receiving an e-mail from Husnul on July 3 complaining about his name being used in the June 30 letter.

"We had clarified the situation by publishing his complaint letter as well as the other letter purportedly sent by him on the same day. I also e-mailed him on July 4 to apologise over the matter," said Fathi.

Denying that malaysiakini published the letter with the intention to create incitement, Fathi said the website does not impose strict requirements for letter writers to identify themselves because people should be allowed to express their opinions without fear.

"However, as a result from this matter, we have decided to be more stringent in future. We have also decided to publish letters sent in by organisations or office bearers only after checking with the organisations," Fathi explained in his e-mail to Husnul.

Fathi also added that malaysiakini has a policy of not publishing abusive letters on race and religion and those containing personal attacks against private individuals.

"We have done our best to clear the confusion arising from the first letter. We have apologised to Husnul and we have published a clarification which absolves Husnul from the first letter," said Fathi.

He said that malaysiakini is concerned about such abuse of the Internet and has launched its own investigation into the origins of the letter purportedly written by Husnul.

'Seditious' letter

Meanwhile, Information Ministry parliamentary secretary Zainuddin Maidin praised Husnul for his "zeal and boldness" in "exposing the lies by malaysiakini ".

Bernama quoted Zainuddin as saying that Husnul's exposure disclosed malaysiakini 's lack of credibility by publishing the "seditious" letter.

"Those behind this foreign agenda seemed to be in a very desperate situation to the extent that they cannot distinguish which one has credibility and which does not," Zainuddin said.

He added that more people should come forward to expose malaysiakini 's lies and lodge police reports.

"By exposing the lies, we have been introduced to the website which does not have any credibility," he said.