Which is correct, 'sehubungan itu' or 'sehubungan dengan itu'?

My post today deals with the Malay language. There are two connectors which often confuse readers in the Malay language. They are 'sehubungan itu' and 'sehubungan dengan itu'. I have asked Dewan Bahasa dan Bahasa under Pertanyaan (Queries section) and the officer confused me because the answer he gave me was 'both can be used'.

My study of the Malay language for decades convinces me that 'sehubungan dengan itu' is the correct one because it falls under the rule for 'se + kata nama' which must be followed by dengan. For example, in the sentence 'Dia belajar sekelas dengan saya'[He and I study in the same class.], sekelas can be split into se + kelas (i.e. se + kata nama as kelas is a kata nama (noun).

Another example is 'Dia tidak sependapat dengan saya dalam hal ini. [His opinion is not the same as mine.] In this sentence, 'sependapat' can be split into se + pendapat, which falls under the rule of se + kata nama because pendapat is a kata nama or noun.

Similarly, sehubungan can be split into se + hubungan which falls under se + kata nama as hubungan is a kata nama (noun). Hence 'Sehubungan dengan itu' is more appropriate.

Let me make a sentence using this connector.

Sehubungan dengan itu, saya telah memberikan penerangan yang jelas kepada para peserta.
[In connection with that, I have given my clear explanation to all the participants.]