Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal bin Wan Ahmad Kamal (born 8 May 1987) is a Malaysian politician who has been serving as the Deputy Minister of National Unity in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Minister Halimah Mohamed Sadique since August 2021. He served as Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration under former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican from March 2020 to August 2021, and was made Senator since March 2020 for this purpose. He has also served  Youth Chief of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) since August 2020, and Deputy Youth Chief II of Perikatan Nasional Youth. Early life and education. He grew up and received primary schooling in the leafy neighbourhood of Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur before moving to Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor, a science-focused boarding school in nearby Cheras. He obtained his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP). He also took courses in Islamic theology and metaphysics, philosophy, ethics and history at the International Institute of Islamic Civilisation and Malay World (ISTAC), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and  later at the Raja Zarith Sofiah Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science and Civilisation (CASIS), University of Technology Malaysia. It was at both institutions that he was instructed in and subscribed to the concept of Islamisation of knowledge as espoused by eminent scholar and Islamic philosopher Tan Sri Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. He also further polished his Arabic and French as part of his studies. He pursued his interest in social sciences by obtaining the London School of Economics' Business, International Relations and Political Economy online course, and later earned his Master of Arts in Geopolitics (Territorial Security ) from King's College London on 23 January 2019. His thesis was titled "The Encircling Dragon: Deciphering China's Geo-economic Expansionism in Peninsular Malaysia". He also picked up elementary Russian and German as part of his studies in London. Early career. Upon graduation, he worked at Malaysia's national oil and gas champion PETRONAS as a Business and Strategic Planning Executive under the Technology and Engineering (T&E) Division. On 1 April 2010, he became Senior Executive of the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (TERAJU), and was one of the individuals responsible for establishing the Bumiputera Education Steering Foundation (PENERAJU) under  the Prime Minister's Department. He served as assistant lecturer at the Selangor International Islamic University College (KUIS) before he becoming Research Fellow at the Putra Business School, Universiti Putra Malaysia. He was also active writing on various issues including business and geopolitics on various publications including "New Straits Times", "The Star", "Global Research", "Asia Times" and "The Edge". Political career. He was a Special Tasks Officer to the then Minister of Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman from late 2018 until early 2020. During the early months of 2020, he had conspired to betray the ruling Pakatan  Harapan (PH) government by taking part in the infamous 'Sheraton Move'. On 10 March 2020, he was made Senator (member of Dewan Negara) to be qualify him for a cabinet post. The same day, he was also appointed Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports under the Cabinet of Muhyiddin Yassin. On 16 August 2020, he succeeded Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman as the head of ARMADA, the youth wing of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) in the party's first election. Syed Saddiq, a founding member of BERSATU and its inaugural, pro-tem youth chief, was earlier sacked from  BERSATU amidst a political crisis. Wan Ahmad Fayhsal was subsequently appointed the Deputy Chief II of Perikatan Nasional's youth wing. His deputy ministership lapsed after Muhyiddin Yassin tendered his cabinet's resignation upon losing his parliamentary majority after at least 15 Members of Parliament from UMNO withdrew their support for the ruling coalition. Controversies. During his deputy ministership, he courted controversy when he suggested that the Central Bank of Malaysia should 'hit the printing press' (a reference to direct monetary financing concept under the Modern Monetary Theory, but is often confused with quantitative easing) to ease the burden of  those suffering from the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Personal life. He has two American-born younger brothers; Wan Kuzain and Wan Kuzri who are footballers. His deep interest in humanities and social sciences began quite early in his schooling, which prompted his frequently visit to Kuala Lumpur's renowned book stores Kinokuniya and MPH on off-campus days at boarding school. Despite pursuing an engineering degree, he continued reading heavily into world history, politics and Islamic philosophy, a passion which later led him to ISTAC and CASIS. He frequently debated with friends and lecturers, both on- and  off-campus during his learning years. It was during this time that his frequent use of academic terms and bombastic language in his writings, public speaking and debates earned him the nickname 'Mat Jargon'. His reputation won invitations to write in columns, deliver lectures and make TV appearances even before joining politics.