A day after the release of the electoral boundaries report, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan remained tight-lipped on the People's Action Party's (PAP) plans, including its new candidates, and on talk on a September elections.
But he said that "over the next few weeks, or months", PAP's candidates will begin to set out their plans and campaign for support.
The Sembawang GRC MP however said he would "love" to continue there.
"I've been here for 10 years now, so I have gotten to know the people extremely well... but there's so much more I would like to do. Just walk around today there's a lot of empty fields, we have so many ideas to try to work out the space. I would like to carry on," he said on the sidelines of a community event on Saturday in Woodlands.
A part of the GRC has been carved out to form the new Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. And he assured those who come in the new constituency that they should not "feel in any way neglected".
"Sembawang town, by HDB definitions, is a bit too small to be a complete GRC. And likewise, Woodlands town. But to have a GRC that comprise both towns, that becomes too big. So some things have to give way... But regardless, we will continue to work together with the other team so nobody will fall through the cracks. This one, we can assure," he said.
Mr Khaw welcomed the increase in the number of smaller GRCs. There will be 13 Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs), up from the current 12. There will also be six four-MP GRCs, up from the current two.
"I think that has always been a request by people," he said. "They wanted more SMCs, smaller GRCs. As a local MP, I too prefer smaller, because we can really travel around the area frequently. If the area is big, of course you can also travel around the whole place, but it takes a bit longer. So small is beautiful."
Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim at another event this morning says he and his fellow MPs in the Jalan Besar GRC area are ready for the polls:
"We'll (still) be serving the needs of the residents and looking at their infrastructure needs, what are the programmes they need, the services they need. That will continue.
"But we will step up as and when PM decides to call for the big day. We are all in gear, we have been preparing since the last election, we just have to be ready when PM presses the button - and where we will be deployed and all that I think is for him to decide."
