Well, if you coded "{#user.a_request}", that would be a problem, since it's supposed to be "#{user.a_request}".
More likely, however, it's your use of non-compliant property names and accessors.
In Java, the underscore is generally not encouraged, as the industry-accepted format for names is camelCase.
The real problem, however is how JavaBeans (and
JSF backing beans ARE JavaBeans) expect their accessor methods to be named.
In other words, not "geta_request()" and "seta_request()", but "getA_request()" and "setA_request()".
The expected accessor method names are determined by camelCasing the property name, converting the first character of the property name to upper-case.
If you don't follow that standard. them JSF will not be able to find your accessor methods and it will silently fail.