Don’t be dramatic, Wan Fayhsal told over wedding at ISTAC hall

PETALING JAYA: A former DAP MP has hit out at Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal after the Bersatu man slammed the government over the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation’s (ISTAC) lecture hall being used for a wedding.

Former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming said space such as ISTAC’s lecture hall could be repurposed for public use in a way that would be both responsible yet financially beneficial for its owners.

“Don’t drama lah,” Ong told Wan Fayhsal in a post on X. “There can’t be public lectures at ISTAC daily, right?”

Yesterday, Wan Fayhsal, the Machang MP, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir should not have allowed ISTAC’s hall to be rented out for a wedding.

The Bersatu Youth chief said the lecture hall was a sacred place where knowledge was imparted, and that using it for a wedding was a breach of etiquette.

“Both Anwar and Zambry should have known better to stop this rot,” he said.

In response to a reply that ISTAC – an institute under the International Islamic University Malaysia – has been hosting weddings for years, Wan Fayhsal said he specifically called out Anwar and Zambry as they were ministers with direct association to the institute.

He pointed out that Anwar was a student of ISTAC’s founder, Syed Naquib Al-Attas.

“Both now have a moral duty to stop this ill practice. I’m not politicising the issue here,” he said.