Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has denied allegations that Umno members were instructed to snub the wedding of party vice-president Shafie Apdal's son.

Salleh added he could not make it for the wedding himself because he was attending to work in Labuan.

"That's not true (that there were instructions not to go). (I didn't go because) I am in Labuan for official business yesterday and today," he told Malaysiakini .

Likewise Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob denied there were orders to snub the wedding do.

"I couldn't go because I had another event that was scheduled earlier," he said.

Shafie (photo) held a wedding reception for his son at the Shangri-La in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

However, the do was missing several top guns whose presence is customary when the children of senior Umno politicians of Shafie's stature tie the knot.

Despite being a founding member of Sabah Umno, Shafie's party colleagues from the state were also nowhere to be seen.

Besides Salleh, fellow Sabah Umno leader Abdul Rahman Dahlan was also absent. Both are staunch supporters of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib himself, along with his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, were nowhere to be seen.

The ministers who did turn up were those who have chosen to keep a low profile and had not actively defended Najib from the scandals plaguing him.

Shafie, together with former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, was in July dropped from the government for being critical of Najib's handling of 1MDB, which is struggling to repay its US$11 billion debt.