SINGAPORE - The PAP team contesting in East Coast GRC will not weigh in on the ongoing debate over Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), said Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say.

In his first comments on the issue, Mr Lim told reporters that his team "has no intention at all to get involved whether they've done a good job in the town council".

Speaking on the sidelines of a morning walkabout at Block 58 Bedok Market on Friday (Sept 4), Mr Lim said it is for residents to judge if the Workers' Party has done right or wrong.

He added: "As far as we are concerned in East Coast, we believe in not just doing something legal, we believe in doing everything that is right for the residents."

The debate over AHPETC has left the public "quite confused", Mr Lim observed.

He shared an encounter with a resident who had commented that "if (WP) have done something wrong send them to jail, if they have not done something wrong, please stop all this debate and argument".

Mr Lim told reporters he gave this analogy as an explanation to the resident: "As a father, as a head of the household, if we do not take care of our children and our spouse, I said is it wrong?

"He said of course it is wrong. I said if it is wrong but would the head of the household be sentenced to jail? He said of course not.

"Therefore there is a difference between right and wrong versus legal and illegal," said Mr Lim, who would not comment further on the issue.

Earlier this week, WP chief Low Thia Khiang argued at a rally in Hougang that if there had been wrongdoing, the WP leaders would have been caught and jailed - a comment which drew rebuke from several People's Action Party heavyweight, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

Mr Lim will lead a four-member team, comprising Senior Minister of State Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State Maliki Osman and two-term MP Jessica Tan, against a WP team led by Mr Gerald Giam.