Book Review : No Intention to Kill : A True Story By T. Vijayandran

No Intention to Kill : A True Story by T. Vijayandran was officially launched on Sunday, 1st June, 2008 in Petaling Jaya by YB Karpal Singh, Advocate and Solicitor, Member of Parliament Malaysia. I had the privilege of attending the launch as an old friend of the author and to witness and share in Vijayandran’s joyous achievement of completing the task of writing the book within 3 months, as mentioned at the launch and seeing its fruition.

This is an easy book to read, even though it is set in legal intricacies, simply because it is based on a true case handled by T. Vijayandran. His role as the defense lawyer in the case has made the narrative very personal and interesting and the story teller side of the author is evident in his style.

The book is about HerlinaTrisnawati, a young 18 year old Indonesian woman from Surabaya, who seeks employment in Malaysia as a domestic maid. She arrives in Malaysia with great hope of finding a good employer and a dream for a better future. Fate however deals a cruel hand when she finds herself subject to reprimands. Within three months of her arrival in Malaysia, her dreams were shattered by an act beyond her control, the darkest hour of her life, that is the unpremeditated murder of her employer.

As her defense lawyer, the author takes you through what transpires behind the court scenes, the anguish and trauma of the accused who finds herself at the mercy of a judicial system totally alien to her. We also see the compassion and emotional attachment that springs from the whole 7 year legal battle and the spiritual side of human interactions throughout the book.

This would be especially good reading for law students who will benefit from it as the book can provide a real life guide on the legal maneuvers taken by a defense lawyer to save the life of a client from the gallows. Law students may also look forward to meeting with the author at a guest author session planned for in the month of January 2008.

The book also provides some highly humorous anecdotes, true to the character of the author and I recall a good chuckle at the author’s narration of his visit to the morgue, in his search of a forensic expert. For more on the book and the author, check out nointentiontokill.blogspot.com. The book is currently available at Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong Library, Main Campus, Call No. 345.595 VIJ

About the author:
T. Vijayandran is a lawyer by profession and has been in private practice since 1990. This is Vijayandran’s first attempt at writing a book and for that he has received praise for his work from the Malaysian legal fraternity. He was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, attended primary and secondary school at the Bukit Bintang Boys School, went on to graduate in Sociology from the University of Science in Penang and landed his first job as Superintendent of Customs at the Royal Malaysian Customs and Excise Department, where he learnt how to prosecute cases related to smuggling offences. He then proceeded to read law at the University of Buckingham, UK.

Reviewed by Sossamma George, Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong Library, Main Campus.