When Low Thia Khiang called for town councils to be depoliticised, he did not mean town councils should not come under the purview of elected Members of Parliament. He was only making a point that Managing Agents (MAs) serving PAP-run town councils are unwilling to serve as MAs in non-PAP TCs. There are however some town councils (like Bishan-Toa Payoh) which are managed without MAs.
In the Westminster system, people of a constituency elect a representative to represent their interests in Parliament. E.g. if there are no buses, or no proper roads, etc, these reps in Parliament bring up the concerns of the constituents in the House. This does not mean that they do not participate in discussions/debates of wider national interests in the House.
So, the elected MP is tasked to be responsible for both municipal AND national-policy issues.
Also in my view, no one who cannot take care of his/her own turf properly is qualified to manage anything bigger.
This is not to say that WP has performed badly in its turf and so should not aspire for bigger stuff. A Yahoo! news article gives perspective to the recent debate in the House on Town Council matters. (See this:https://sg.news.yahoo.com/residents-mostly-shrug-off-ahpetc….)
One comment as a sample of how many residents in AHPETC feel:
""Estate-management wise, I've lived here for 26 years and honestly, not much has changed since the handover [from PAP to WP]," she added."
So to me, the AHPETC debate in Parliament was just a political showdown, where the Members of the ruling Party were unshackled to go for the jugular in preparing for the next GE. The opposition supported the motion, also in preparation for the next election.
It is all just politics.
Ravi Philemon
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/raviphilemon/posts/10153046078528277