In the sports arena, there is a need to replenish the ranks of current sportsmen, and hence, the focus on youth development. The raw diamonds are polished today into the gems of tomorrow. It is the Young Lions of the England National Youth soccer team who will form the nucleus of future Lions team years down the road. That is the natural process of the young who will replace the old, be it in sports, business and elsewhere.
Now, let’s ask a person who has little conception of Singapore politics what does he understand by the term Young PAP. You will most likely get a reply that the function of the Young PAP is to replenish the ranks of PAP, which is a common-sensical one in any sense.
The Young PAP website shows a list of interesting objectives based on 3 Es – 1) Establish, which is to expand the network and footprint of the YP ethos. 2) Embrace which is to capture a diversity of members and views to represent Singapore’s demographics; and in doing so to spur change from within. 3) Evolve which is to create a sphere of influence for members to grow and deepen their understanding of politics and how they can personalize politics to shape Singapore’s future.
A fourth E, and the most important one directly related to the idealized concept and name of Young PAP is missing. ELEVATE, which is to replenish PAP’s ranks with members from Young PAP. And one really wonders why.
It is ironical that the actual PAP itself has its own mechanisms that allows the latter to select its own candidates. The first step of the selection process is an invitation to tea party on the recommendation of Ministers, Member of Parliaments, senior civil servants, corporate leaders and party activists. Thus, this means that the PAP itself casts a wide net, and any member of the public can be a potential PAP candidate if the latter successfully negotiates the selection hurdles. Thus, it doesn’t come as a surprise that nearly the entire crop of the current PAP Member of Parliaments didn’t rise through the Young PAP ranks, but were parachuted into PAP candidature directly nonetheless. Thus, one wouldn’t find it surprising if the Young PAP isn’t even considered a platform to replace the PAP’s ranks by the PAP itself. However, information on the PAP’s stand on Young PAP is not known at the moment. There is an even deeper dose of irony considering the fact that Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, former chairman of Young PAP was never from Young PAP himself.
It is apparent that Young PAP’s role, with its current 3 Es, is to serve a complementary function to the PAP. One would would suspect that party renewal may not be an important priority (relative to the 3 Es) for the Young PAP. However, if its role is to serve a complementary function on other fronts and its raison d’etre is not about party renewal, then its label “Young PAP” is indeed a misnomer.
Kelvin Teo Writes 
The PAP does not renew its ranks through party members jostling for position to assume positions of responsibility. Neither can it attract enough high calibre candidates from outside to take on ministerial responsibilities. If this continues, it would eventually lead to its decline as a political party.
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“…it would eventually lead to its decline as a political party.”
Odds are, however, that that fate will not occur until after the current most senior leadership has passed on from this world. And at that point, the PAP loses its main reason for existence at all. If the current senior leadership were indeed interested in mentoring a new generation of political talent to continue an actual political movement, then PAP and especially Young PAP would be very different than today.