section_path: Leadership transitions/First to second generation
section_name: First to second generation
paragraph_text: First to second generation
  
  By 1984, the "old guard" (first generation of party leaders) had been governing Singapore for approximately a quarter of a century. Aging leadership was a key concern, and then-Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew sought to groom younger leaders. In a speech on 29 September 1984, Lee argued that though the first generation of leaders was still "alert and fully in charge", to hang on to power until they had become feeble would allow power to be wrested from them, with no say in who their successors were.
  
  On 30 September, at the Ordinary Party Conference, power was transferred to the second generation of leaders, who were elected to the Central Executive Committee in place of all the old CEC members; of the 14-member CEC, Lee Kuan Yew remained the only "old guard" leader.
  
  According to a report to the Library of Congress, the old guard were confident in their "rectitude" and discretion in using their extensive political powers for Singapore's common good, but were not as confident in the next generation in doing so. Various limits on executive power were considered, in order to minimise the chances of corruption. These included a popularly elected President of Singapore with substantial, nonceremonial powers. This particular reform was enacted with a constitutional amendment in 1991.
  
  The old guard also sought to eschew the use of PAP as a central political institution, seeking to "depoliticise" and disperse power among society, and sought to include low-level community leaders in government. A policy of cross-fertilisation was enacted: exchange of leaders, "elites" and talent would take place between private and government sectors, civilian and military segments of society, and between the party and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).