Mr S. Dhanabalan reckons such cross-racial acceptance takes time.

He was responding to a recent survey by two academics at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies on race and religion.

The survey found that at least 92 per cent of all races polled said they would vote an MP or a Singapore president of a different race. Over 91 per cent would accept a prime minister of another race.

Among the Chinese, 94 per cent did not mind if the PM was an Indian, and 91 per cent, if he was a Malay.

In 1988, then-PM Lee Kuan Yew had rated a few ministers as potential successors. He said then that he left Mr Dhanabalan out of the list because he thought Singapore was not ready for an Indian PM.

Mr Dhanabalan said he had not studied the recent survey in detail, but thought respondents probably gave 'politically correct' answers that did not reflect their real feelings.

'I'm not quite convinced. It will take a bit more time. You look at the United States. How long, how many years were they a nation before a Catholic could be elected?

'Let's don't even talk about blacks. Now Barack Obama is the first one. Well, he may not even make it through the primary, right?

'So these are very deep feelings. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I think it will take some time,' said Mr Dhanabalan.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is vying to be the Democratic Party's nominee for president in next year's election in the US. This will be decided in a primary, which is an election in which registered voters of a political party nominate candidates for office.

In 1961, Mr John F. Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic to become president of the US.

Mr Dhanabalan, a former Cabinet minister, recalled that the 'idealist' in him had objected to the group representation constituency (GRC) concept when it was mooted 20 years ago.

In a GRC, political candidates contest as a group, with at least one member from a non-Chinese race. The purpose is to ensure that minority candidates are represented in Parliament.

Mr Dhanabalan said he had initially argued that 'if the Chinese who are the majority in my constituency didn't want me, I don't want to foist myself on them. That was my view'.

But over the years, his views changed.

'I have quite reluctantly come to a conclusion that my view is an idealistic view and that there are certain political realities I have to face.'

In Singapore, if a good Indian candidate is pitted against an articulate Chinese candidate in a single constituency where 75 per cent of the people are Chinese, 'I think it will be very difficult for the Indian or Malay candidate to win, especially if it's the first time'.

Mr Dhanabalan said he had learnt over the years that the way he viewed others, is not always the way others viewed him.

For example, as his wife is Chinese, 'when I look at the Chinese, I never see him or her as somebody of another race'.

When he meets a Chinese person overseas, he tends to view the person as like himself. But the Chinese person would likely view him as an Indian and a foreigner.

'It took me a bit of time to realise that my view of him is different from his view of me.'