why did PAP, which is supposed to have a stringent approval system choosing from a very large field of party activists, select a 27 year old management consultant with very little political  and community experience? from the fact that a number of incumbent MPs in the mid to late 50s are retiring (by their own choice? but since they all say "I will do as my party directs me", I have to assume the party has directed them to not continue), PAP has made a deliberate decision to lower the average parliamentary age by X years and get Y young candidates. Once such a formula has been decided upon, one might find that feasible choices are limited if you have to meet those numbers.

they might have thought "Eunice Olsen is young and there was no particular negative feeling when we selected her", but the two cases are very different. Olsen is a nominated MP, not a PAP MP; NMPs are supposed to add diversity, and she brings youth, female sex, beauty queen background, etc to the table. Issues like long party service and clear ideological identification does not arise. Tin is being field as a party candidate, where such issues are much to the fore. Long term activists might well feel they have not been given a fair chance.

If Tin stands in a single member constituency and wins over an opposition candidate through good campaigning, much of the criticism would be muted: she proves to be able to fight for the party, but she is going to be in a GRC team and will basically be riding on the popularity of the senior minister heading the party ticket; she does not have the chance to establish her own credentials and  "earn" her place in parliament

how would she stand up if pitted against, say, WP's Chen Show Mao, a 50 year old Stanford Law graduate, after Oxford on Rhodes Scholarship, partner in a major US law firm with a number of large China projects in his record? I doubt she would win even if they stood in a previous PAP leaning constituency. I believe the party need to seriously consider its selection methods and formulae in future elections