Former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin launched the biography of Tan Sri Dr Ampikaipakan Kandiah, titled The Doctor Will See You Now, on Sept 7.
Authored by his wife Puan Sri Thamayanthi Devi Ampikaipakan, it details Dr Ampikaipakan’s life and career as a medical professional and philanthropist, including his work for the Vivekananda Ashrama Kuala Lumpur and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Vivekananda. He was also once Chairman of Maika Holdings Bhd, the MIC’s investment arm.
“I always knew that I would lose to his two mistresses — his medical career and his social work,” said Thamayanthi during the launch held at SMK Vivekananda’s Kandiah Hall in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.
Muhyiddin has been a long-time patient of Dr Ampikaipakan, a internal and respiratory medicine specialist at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He issued a letter in June 2020 which certified Muhyiddin as cancer-free and well enough to serve as Prime Minister.
Calling Dr Ampikaipakan “the sort of Malaysian that we all want to see”, Muhyiddin said that “we can find true friends in every Malaysian regardless if he is a Muslim, a Hindu, a Christian, a Buddhist, or a person of any religion”.
“What we need is a clean heart, with honesty and with compassion that always treats others with dignity, respect and kindness, and this is what Ampi is all about,” he added.
Also present at the launch was the Raja Muda of Selangor, Tengku Amir Shah Ibni Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Alhaj. At the same time, Indian politician Shashi Tharoor provided a video message for the event.
