Tin Pei Ling is Not Young.

There's a lot to think about this elections. A lot that can be written, and too much that should not be said.

Other people are writing and saying these things. These are the Youth, the much hyped members of Generation Y who feel that they can write and speak with impunity; who were not born in the turbulent times of yesteryear, who do not remember because they were not there. I worry for them. I think that we may not quite have come as far as we think, and that their time is not... quite upon us yet.

Singapore is not quite ready for a myopic Me generation, that can think only of itself, and that equates running something as large and complex a country to the simple needs of the individuals.

I would have been distressed in my youth to think that an older self would have changed so very much that I would advocate moderation. I was young and hotheaded then, and I bore the men in white no love. I am older now; I bear them as little love as before, but some of the time I see sense behind the things they do and say, where before I could not. And some of the time they compromise themselves for a few Hard Truths, that cannot be told. Yet some of the shenanigans this elections... some of the antics have been hard to swallow. I can't write about those. Old habits die hard, and even if the culture of fear exists only between my ears, it's still there.

I can touch on some simple things though.

Tin Pei Ling is not young.
She is old enough to be a mother of two, even three. To be responsible for the well being of other lives, to have to think for them, and their futures. 27 is not old in this ridiculous country - it's nearly past prime, time for the shelf...

Nicole Seah is young.
Barely old enough to be a mother of a newborn babe. Fresh out of university. Someone not expected to have an ounce of responsibility about her, who could easy get away with going clubbing and being a good time party girl - someone not old enough to need to settle down and be responsible.

I watched the videos, same as everyone else.

I saw two very, very different individuals. One looked like a person who knew what it was to be responsible, who was self-aware, who could empathize with a target audience. Who had grasped the socio-political issues that were relevant to her and her "clients".

The other looked like someone trying to say all the right things - like someone who wanted to be the other.

Perhaps it's all window dressing. Perhaps it's all substance over form. Perhaps the proof of the pudding is in the eating as the men in white are so wont to say.Or perhaps not.

One thing is for sure - it's really, really not about how old they are.

It's about how mature they are - how old they are in their heads - how they see themselves in their heads - how responsible they want or do not want to be - why they are choosing the paths they are: their motives.

It's about who they were even before signing up for the cause - not about on the job learning or having the potential to become someone else.

Let's be very frank. Tin Pei Ling is not young. Nicole Seah is young.
One seems to be immature, and the other looks mature.
Tin Pei Ling is not that pretty. Neither is Nicole Seah, for that matter. I have friends and acquaintences far more blessed in the looks departments.
We're looking at them through very jaundiced eyes, comparing one to the other. We're not being objective.

Objectively speaking, BOTH these girls are not ready - both of them will have to learn on the job. Both of them have not learned the experiences born of hard-truths and mistakes that come only with age.

Both of them would lose nothing by waiting a little while longer to assume the mantle of tribal elder. Because that's really all an MP is, in this country.

Now is not the time to be raising fledgelings into government, when government looks so shaky and uncertain. Now is the time for leaders, for people who know how to fill in the cracks and shore up the faults - before the system breaks under its own weight.

******

The men in white need to know this: a state-created champion of Youth (and "new media" expert!) just will not work.

Generation Y is young.
Generation Y is immature and filled with teenage angst.
Generation Y is selfish and impetuous.

Generation Y does want not to hear sob stories about fathers, heart attacks and coffee shops - Generation Y does not want to hear that I am a common man/woman from the street and so I can be your leader. Generation Y doesn't give a flying f*** about Your Suffering or your Commonality.

Generation Y wants instant gratification - Generation Y wants musicians born and note made through sweat and hard work. Discovered overnight through insta-celebrity reality TV.

Generation Y wants their leaders to be strong - not to cry in public. To say that they have no regrets to date that will cripple them.

Generation Y wants their leaders to EITHER be common men but not wear it on their shoulder and trumpet it to the world - YET STILL be "uncommonly talented" enough to do things that they themselves cannot -- OR ESLSE be the uncommon man, born with a silver spoon in the ass - but with an unspoken humility that has the same effect - not trumpeting it to the world - with that same undefinable talent that transforms them into more than the layman can be.

Generation Y wants their leaders to look alive, sparkle, and shine. To be witty on their feet, to be unique, to have a fresh perspective - or at least a strongly personal perspective on things.

And most of all Generation Y wants their champion to emerge though popular vote - not be named by a "benevolant" father figure.

*****
Desmond Lee is too old to be a champion - he is Generation X.

But I applaud him for remaining the Gentleman that I vaguely remember him being, back in school.

It was good of him to help his opponents pass the line.

We need more people like him - in both camps. We need less of the ugliness, less talk about incorrectly documented employment statuses, or quibbling matters of mere seconds. We need more good conduct, and fair competition this elections.

We need leaders, not children.