SINGAPORE, July 12 — The Workers’ Party (WP) would prefer to run its freshly-won Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) as a standalone town council, said party chief Pritam Singh today.

“I think what we see is Sengkang, we believe, has the economies of scale that will allow it to stand as a standalone town council,” said  Singh. “So that’s our approach and our preference going forward.”

Singh was responding to a question about whether Sengkang GRC will be absorbed into the existing Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), which is also controlled by WP.

Speaking to the media in an online press conference,  Singh, 43, and the victorious WP team —  He Ting Ru, 37, Dr Jamus Lim, 44,  Raeesah Khan, 26 and  Louis Chua, 33, — outlined some plans it has for the GRC.

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The WP pulled off a surprise victory in the ward, notching up 52.13 per cent of the vote to defeat the People’s Action Party team.

This means that three officeholders — chief of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Ng Chee Meng, 51, Senior Minister of State for the health and transport ministries Lam Pin Min, 54, and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Amrin Amin, 42 — will be ousted from Parliament. The fourth member was new candidate Raymond Lye, 54.

Singh said that any final decision on the structure of the town council will depend on how meetings with the managing agents of the Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) and Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) develop.

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The newly-formed GRC takes in areas currently covered by those town councils.

He, who led the WP Sengkang team, reiterated that the team is working with the AMKTC and PRPTC to “ensure a smooth handover of the managing agents”.

“We’ve reached out to (the managing agents) and asked for a handover meeting to take place as soon as possible,” she said. “We’re also working to develop our relationships with contractors, and we look forward to moving forward as a team in good faith.”

She added that meet-the-people sessions cannot be carried out at the moment due to prevailing Covid-19 precautions in Phase Two of Singapore’s economic reopening.

“Therefore, if any residents have any questions or need help, please email us at [email protected], and one of us will get in touch with you about your problems or your questions.

“We will also release further information about MP allocations and divisions in due course,” she added.

 Singh added that before the handover of town council duties is complete and the town is gazetted by the Ministry of National Development, the residents of Sengkang should contact the existing town councils, which are still in operation and serving them.

“Once the appropriate gazette is released, then the Members of Parliament-elect will issue either by way of statement or by way of a press conference as to what will be the modalities through which they can assist Sengkang residents,” he said.

“We will wait for the meetings or the invitations to a meeting that we have already put out, and we’ll take it from there.”

Asked if there will be “teething issues” expected from the handover — of a type that the WP had previously experienced with the handover of Aljunied GRC —  Singh said that the team will go into the discussions in “good faith”.

After Aljunied GRC was won by WP during GE 2011, it was merged with WP’s Hougang SMC to form its own town council. However, teething issues in the 2011 handover are linked to a lawsuit by AHTC against its town councillors, which is currently under appeal.

‘Don’t celebrate too hard’: Pritam Singh

Some team members have already started walking the ground at Sengkang, not sparing a moment to celebrate the party’s victory.

For instance, Dr Lim had been spotted taking notes on an iPad at Rivervale Mall on Sunday morning.

When asked what notes he was taking, Dr Lim said that he was recording “basic town council matters”.

“In (one of the blocks), there was a mosquito problem, so we recorded that down… I cannot match (every detail) which is why I have the iPad,” he said.

“We want to be immediately responsive to all these considerations… To focus on making sure that this transition occurs in a smooth fashion as possible.”

Asked how they celebrated their victory,  He said that the team had time to catch some sleep on Saturday, before it started having meetings and talks with “various people” to discuss the details of the handover.

She shared that the team members had a “good bowl of laksa” in a neighborhood restaurant in Sengkang on Sunday morning.

“That will have to do for now… Maybe when things settle (down) a bit more we will have a bigger celebration,” she said.

“Don’t celebrate too hard,” quipped  Singh.

Plans for Aljunied GRC

WP chairman  Sylvia Lim, who also took part in the online press conference, elaborated on how “the internal allocation of work” in Aljunied GRC — which the WP retained with a 59.93 per cent vote share — will be altered.

 Singh and party vice-chairman Faisal Manap, 45, will remain in charge of their Eunos and Kaki Bukit wards respectively.

As for the new Aljunied team members,  Gerald Giam, 42, will take over former chief Low Thia Khiang’s ward at Bedok Reservoir-Punggol, while Leon Perera, 45, will take over  Lim’s former ward Serangoon.

 Lim, 55, will be moved to take charge of Paya Lebar, which was formerly helmed by  Chen Show Mao, who did not contest in this year’s GE.

“All five of us are responsible collectively for Aljunied,”  Lim added. “This is just an internal allocation of work to make it more convenient for residents to approach the MPs primarily in charge of the divisions concerned.” — TODAY