This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 18, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said there was nothing wrong in using funds from the government-linked charity foundation, Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (Yapeim), to organise marriage courses overseas.

The Rakyat Post reported the minister in charge of Islamic affairs, who oversees Yapiem, as saying the programmes were to benefit Malaysians studying abroad.

He was responding to National Oversight and Whistleblowers (Now) director Akmal Nasir’s accusation yesterday that Yapeim spent RM290,000 on a marriage course in Paris, France.

Akmal had demanded to know the rationale behind the course and why Yapeim funds were used to organise it.

Jamil Khir said the course was popular among students abroad, and that some applications were rejected as it could not accommodate everyone, The Rakyat Post reported.

He reportedly did not rule out the possibility that Now was criticising the course because it had touched on various hot-button issues, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, hudud and the Islamic State. — The Malaysian Insider