Now back home, 27 and looking for a job, Barua characterizes the attitude of Singaporean youth toward politics by contrast as "apathetic."

"My friends here are so depoliticized that when I bring up politics they're not interested and I feel like an outcast," he says. "Our pursuits have been diverted into material things."

Tan Kong Soon, a 23-year-old majoring in political science and sociology at the National University of Singapore, agrees. "Apathy to politics is a fact of life among university students in Singapore," he says. "Everyone is caught up in the rat race. Politics has taken a back-seat role."

It's a problem that has caught the attention of Singapore's ruling People's Action Party. The party is seeking to recruit a younger generation of political candidates with "ministerial potential" in time for the country's next parliamentary election, which is due by mid-2002.

The task is crucial in order to have a new team in place to lead Singapore when the following election is slated to come around, in 2007, says Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

"The people we have found so far are mostly in their forties," the prime minister said last month while delivering the National University of Singapore Society Millennium Lecture. "By 2007, they would be near or even be over 50. Younger people in their thirties are now too busy chasing their careers."

Goh argues Singapore needs strong political leadership to see it through the next 50 years.

"Singapore needs a core of strong, competent and good people to look after it," Goh said in his speech. "Without this core group to hold the place together, the country will crumble."

Of course, few would argue that Singapore is in any danger of falling apart. But with the shift to the New Economy, countries around the region are realizing they need young technocrats and economic pragmatists--often from the private sector--to lead the way. "The last thing you want is a bunch of geriatrics running your country,"says a consultant in Singapore.

Since the last general elections, the PAP has invited hundreds of Singaporeans in their late twenties to mid-forties for "tea sessions" in the hopes of identifying 15-20 people it believes have strong leadership qualities. According to reports earlier this month in the Straits Times, the party has identified 12 potential election candidates but is still hunting for more. It also raised ministerial salaries earlier this year to match upward trends in private-sector pay to help attract and retain talent. Even the most junior minister got a 12 percent increase, to S$968,000 (US$556,000).

The shortage of young, thirty-something candidates coming forward isn't restricted to the ruling political party. According to James Gomez, executive director of the Think Centre, a non-governmental organization that promotes political awareness, difficulty in recruiting young people is a challenge facing organizations across the board, including NGOs, government-sponsored people's associations, ethnic organizations and opposition parties.

"The problem isn't restricted to the PAP," says Gomez. "It's a national problem."

Academics and intellectuals in Singapore argue that apathy toward politics in particular stems partly from the dominant party's success in governing Singapore--especially when it comes to its record on sustaining economic growth.

"There's a lack of new blood because people generally do not see a pressing need to serve the nation in the political arena," says Daniel Chew, chairman of the Socratic Circle, a non-partisan civic discussion group. "Everything is safe and secure and people are generally contented with the current state."

Indeed, as the PAP seeks to groom a third and even fourth generation of leaders, its own success in running the country seems to be getting in the way of wooing new recruits, many analysts say. "The first lot of Singapore's leaders were revolutionaries--they had causes to fight," says Kevin Tan, a consultant and president of the Round Table, a non-partisan political group. "But when you have an administrative state, it's about maintaining the bottom line and improving the economy. Why would you give up your career for politics when there are no good causes left to fight or when you don't think you can make a difference?" Yaacob Ibrahim, parliamentary secretary of the Ministry for Communications and Information Technology, disagrees. Ibrahim entered politics as a backbencher at the age of 41, and is one of the younger members of government trying to convince citizens that they have a stake in the country. Not only are there no guarantees that Singapore can maintain economic growth at current levels, he says, but MPs in Singapore can and do make a difference. "MPs have their pet projects, issues close to their hearts," he says. "Perhaps it's a passion for helping the community, or the elderly, or pushing on environmental protection."

Nonetheless, a reluctance to join politics seems to be widespread. Some academics argue that apart from the obvious priorities of pursuing wealth and raising a family, potential candidates are often scared off from entering politics because they would then be subject to public scrutiny, be bound by party guidelines and rules, and typically have to go through security-clearance procedures for political appointments.

Other deterrents include a perception of the PAP as being intolerant of dissent within its own ranks and being a top-heavy party that cherry-picks the people it wants instead of raising them up through the party's ranks. "You can spend 30 to 35 years in the party and chances are you wouldn't even be considered to be an MP," says an academic at the National University of Singapore. "It's not really attractive for someone to spend a great deal of time at the party branch, grassroots level . . . If you are politically ambitious it's better for you to do well first in the private sector or civil service, then catch the eye of someone and be parachuted into the party."

Company culture is also to blame for discouraging employees from running for politics, others argue. "Companies generally don't like their employees to be involved in the political process, whether it's PAP or non-PAP," notes another academic at the National University of Singapore. "Involvement in politics will take time away from attending to job matters, and if it's an employee who is involved in the opposition it's even more tough."

But perhaps the comments of Christopher Lock, a 33-year-old graduate in economics from the National University of Singapore who works for a multinational corporation, sum it up best. At school, he recalls, ambitions proposed by his teachers never included running for political office or being Singapore's next prime minister. Instead, kids were encouraged to enter professions such as engineering, medicine or law. What's more, at the end of the day he's happy with how the PAP is running the country.

"They should keep up the good work," he says. "Unless something really upsetting happens, I will not consider joining a political party to put things right."