The International Islamic University (IIU) has launched a probe against two of its students over their role in setting up a nascent political party.

As part of their investigation, the university’s legal unit has approached Malaysiakini to help them prove their charges against the students.

The legal unit’s director Faizal Kamal Mohamed informed Malaysiakini in a letter that the university was examining a 3-minute video-clip which appeared in the independent news website in which two students, believed to be from IIU, were interviewed on camera.

Faizal urged Malaysiakini to assist the university in a number of ways - reveal the identities of the two students, the time and place where the clip was taken, the name of the Malaysiakini journalist who reported the story and “any other information relating to the video-clip”. [See full letter]

“The university looks at this matter seriously as it could tarnish the image of the university. As such, the information will help the university in curbing such activities in the future,” added Faizal.

This morning, the unit’s assistant director Muhammad Azrul Hazerin Abdul Razak along with another official visited Malaysiakini to deliver the letter and “seek cooperation in naming the students”.

“We think the students have breached our regulations. We want to take action against them and we want Malaysiakini to provide us with the information we need,” he said.

‘We can’t help you’

However, Malaysiakini ’s editor-in-chief Steven Gan told them that the website was not “in the business of helping” the university to take action against the students.

“The video-clip is publicly available on our website. We are not going to surrender any additional information beyond that,” said Gan.

According to Muhammad Azrul, the university is seeking further details on the students and confirmation that they did talk to Malaysiakini as shown in the video clip, alluding to the infamous Lingam tape which depicts a senior lawyer brokering the appointment of judges.

“We can’t help you with that. I can however confirm that the video-clip is ours and authentic,” added Gan.

“But apart from that, we cannot help you to take action against these students,” he told the university officials.

The video-clip, which was uploaded in Malaysiakini on Jan 7, was about several students from various universities - calling themselves the coalition of Muslim University Students - gathering at the Election Commission office in Putrajaya to announce the formation of the National Students Party.

The students, who have a list of grouses over the government’s education policies, said they intended to contest in the upcoming general elections.

Malaysian universities are notorious for their no-nonsense attitude when it comes to curbing student activism, usually relying on the restrictive Universities and University Colleges Act which, among others, forbids students from joining political parties, let alone forming one.