SINGAPORE may have a non-Chinese prime minister one day but that is unlikely to happen any time soon, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday, four days after Americans elected their first black president.

Mr Lee said race is still a factor that determines voters' preferences here, although he noted that attitudes have shifted.

He was replying to a question from Association of Muslim Professionals board member Yang Razali Kassim at a dialogue with 350 Malay grassroots and community leaders at the Grassroots Club.

Mr Yang Razali asked if, in the light of Mr Barack Obama's win, Singapore was ready for a prime minister of a minority race, and specifically from the Malay-Muslim community.

Mr Lee said in reply, 'It's possible. It depends on how people vote, on who has the confidence of the population.'

'Will it happen soon? I don't think so, because you have to win votes.

'And these sentiments - who votes for whom, and what makes him identify with that person - these are sentiments which will not disappear completely for a long time, even if people do not talk about it, even if people wish they did not feel it,' he added.

However, he also acknowledged that attitudes on race have shifted in the last two to three decades.

'Attitudes have shifted because English provides more of a common ground, because the new generation is better educated and they can see that there are successful people of all races,' he said.

'But to reach a position where everybody is totally race-blind and religion-blind, I think that's very difficult. You will not find it in any country in the world.'

Read the full story in tomorrow's edition of The Sunday Times.