Thanks to retired headmaster Lee Kim Siew, visitors can now also expand their knowledge at this scenic spot.
This jovial octogenarian has set up five reading stations around the park, each packed with a variety of books for the public to borrow for free.
“Everybody can borrow up to five books at a time. One family can take over 30 books! There’s no limit: you can return after one year, two years or three! No limit, no fee!” Lee is fond of telling anyone who visits.
Lee’s five stations, or ‘mini libraries’, are located within walking distance of each other. One is located near the basketball court, while one other sits atop a small hill.
These stations are humble in appearance: mostly just shelves and boxes filled with large collections of books, covered with plastic sheets to protect against the elements. To Lee, they are a labour of love, part of his lifelong efforts to promote reading.
According to him, the stations have about 30,000 books in total, in Malay, Chinese and English. There are many titles on management and medicine, as well as about 300 old issues of Readers Digest.
Most of the books have been donated, with Lee buying the rest from recycling centres. The only books he does not accept are those that are photocopied.
Lee can be found here four or five days a week: the old man is a familiar sight at this park, which he has helped keep clean for many years. Many visitors, who mostly know him as ‘the Library Uncle’, enjoy making small talk with him.
“I always see this uncle here doing volunteer work every morning, cleaning the park. I think his library is a very good idea, because it can attract people to come here and build up reading habits,” said management systems trainer Lily Chee, a Puchong resident and frequent visitor to the park.
Lee is turning 90 next year, and is no longer as fit as he used to be. His hearing has also been affected by age. Even so, he takes the 50-minute walk from his house to the park every morning, where he stays from about 9am-12pm.
Most of his time is occupied with sweeping the grounds, arranging books, stamping the books, and other such tasks.
The book lover started the reading stations about three years ago, with the help of resources from the MPP Zone 16 Subang Jaya Municipal Council. Three stations were approved at first. The other two came later.
“Most people pay in instalments for cars, houses or handphones. But my ‘instalments’ all go towards books,” Lee said with a laugh.
Books have long been a big part of Lee’s life: the former headmaster of Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Chi Wen in Bahau, Seremban, once owned a library of over 55,000 books.
Throughout his career, he was known for using his own money to buy new titles for the school library and purchasing textbooks for underprivileged students.
Once, he was invited to visit a school in Guangxi, China that he had donated money to years prior so it could be built. Once there, he discovered that the school’s library was poorly equipped: moved, Lee donated books to them on his next visit.
Since then, he has become a bit of a “book philanthropist”. Over the course of his life, Lee has contributed to libraries in Seremban, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, as well as centres in Thailand and China. According to him, reading is crucial for people to gain knowledge and improve their lives.
Lee’s dream is to build 32 libraries in his life: he is apparently close to his goal, having already built 30. A lack of funds, however, is preventing him from building another two reading stations.
His goal now, however, is to maintain his book stations, which he hopes will be helpful, especially for people who cannot afford to buy books.
“I think every town, everywhere, should have a library,” Lee said.