NO, he's not going to park his bicycle across the street, he says.

And he plans to write another letter to the chief executive officer of the National Library Board (NLB), for an explanation on why the National Library insists on not letting him park his bicycle on a pedestrian walkway at its premises on Victoria Street.

Mr Bin Hee Heng, the cyclist and frequent library user, said: 'If the CEO says it is a policy, then I will write to ministers, and to the Lee Foundation, who gave money to build the library, for the justification of this policy.'

He did that following an argument with an NLB security officer after he found that his bicycle had been chained by NLB staff members.

For a year, the NLB had exchanged e-mails with Mr Bin, an avid investor who goes to the library four times a week so he can read the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

But instead of heeding NLB's advice to use designated bicycle lots nearby, Mr Bin had insisted on parking his bicycle at the library's walkway.

WHY SO STUBBORN?

He said: 'I'm doing readers a favour. Safety can still be ensured without policies that inconvenience the people.'

By being so stubborn, isn't he being a public nuisance?

Someone who is charged with being a public nuisance, for causing annoyance, obstruction or danger to the public, can be fined up to $1,000.

But Mr Bin insisted: 'I am not a nuisance, I am not a threat. Any inconvenience caused to any other library user is regretted.'

Despite NLB's explanation, Mr Bin insisted that parking his bicycle at the walkway has not caused obstruction, because the passageway is wide.

Besides, that part of the NLB premises is deserted, he claimed.

He also insisted that his action of chaining the library doors last Saturday caused no harm because:

1. Another sliding door was in use 1.5m away from the chained glass doors.

2. He did not walk off with the keys to the lock, and was at all times in full view of a NLB manager and other security officers, one of whom was directing library users to the sliding door.

Hence, he said, he could not have 'posed safety issues to the public', as implied by the NLB following his action.

Mr Bin claimed that he also frequently informed NLB staff that he had written to its CEO about the matter, and was waiting for a response. But it has been seven months and he never received a response from the CEO, he said.

The e-mail exchanges with NLB's management began last March.

It got to a head in August when NLB chained Mr Bin's bicycle for the first time. He immediately e-mailed NLB chairman Lim Soo Hoon and NLB CEO N Varaprasad, calling the NLB's action 'arbitrary', and adding that its security officers were unfriendly and oppressive.

But NLB told The New Paper that its letter to Mr Bin last April - explaining its regulation and actions - had already served the same purpose of reply.

It added that the letter was vetted and cleared by the CEO.

An NLB spokesman said: 'In that mail, it was clearly stated that NLB reserves the right to enforce its regulations in the interest of the overall safety of its patrons.'

SIGN AN AGREEMENT

Last Saturday, Mr Bin claimed that an NLB manager would only release his bicycle on condition that he signed an undertaking, agreeing that he would never park his bicycle at unauthorised places again.

Mr Bin refused to do so.

He felt that the CEO's silence, and that he had been able to park his bicycle there for the last seven months, was a sign of consent.

Mr Bin said that an NLB staff member refused to remove NLB's chain on his bicycle, even after he had explained that to the employee.

So Mr Bin locked their doors.

The police are now investigating the matter.

Mr Bin said: 'I'm doing things constructively for the library. The matter cannot be viewed in isolation.'

He felt NLB has not addressed other safety hazards, and also set rules that contradicted itself.

He said: 'If you go to the children's section, there are books strewn all over. Would that not be a hazard in an emergency? Why target my bicycle, parked along the side of a wide walkway?'

He further pointed out that four free rock concerts held last September, called Stomp Rocks the Library, at the library@Orchard, disturbed many users.

He claimed: 'The music was so loud, it was impossible for librarians to hear me. Students could not study there. Who is imposing inconvenience on library users? It is the NLB.'

When he realised that newspapers always went missing from the shelves, Mr Bin claimed he wrote to the NLB.

He said: 'It was I who had the branch libraries introducing a book-out system for daily newspapers.'

He also claimed that he pointed out areas where tables and chairs were inadequate in the library to librarians.

He added: 'When I do use the library, I am a model user. And I would like things to have a workable, reasonable procedure from the start.'

Unless the current dispute is resolved, Mr Bin said he will not return to the Victoria Street library and use other branches instead.

'Even if it is at my inconvenience,' he said.

But for now, he prepares to pen his next letter.