PAP's Aljunied team should focus on 'heartware'

THE Workers' Party's (WP's) decision to field a slate made up of incumbent Aljunied GRC MPs in the same constituency for the upcoming election shows that they take the People's Action Party (PAP) team there seriously, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said yesterday.

"It doesn't matter who they send," he said, adding that the PAP will field a team which the party regards as right for the GRC.

Mr Goh spoke to the media after meeting residents during a two-hour walkabout in the GRC, which the WP won in the 2011 General Election.

He was accompanied by former PAP chairman Lim Boon Heng and the chairmen of the PAP's branches in Aljunied GRC: Victor Lye, K. Muralidharan Pillai, Chua Eng Leong, Chan Hui Yuh and Shamsul Kamar.

The five have been identified as the likely PAP slate in the GRC. The visit covered the Serangoon Garden food centre, Serangoon North Avenue 1 and Hougang Mall.

Mr Goh, a former prime minister and an MP for Marine Parade GRC, said he was visiting the constituency to provide moral support to the team, who have been working very hard over the last few years. "It's a signal to Aljunied GRC residents that the PAP remains interested in you," he said.

Mr Goh said that the PAP is there to serve Aljunied GRC residents and "we want to have another chance to serve them better than the current MPs".

Residents gave him a good reception, he said, but he acknowledged that personal goodwill towards him may not necessarily translate into votes on the ground: "We have to be realistic about it."

Addressing his younger party colleagues in Aljunied GRC, Mr Goh advised them to focus on "heartware". "Don't worry about hardware like infrastructure. It is important, but more or less done. The way forward is community bonding."

charyong@sph.com.sg

Get MyPaper for more stories.