But race becomes an issue when it comes to matters of the heart.

Ask if he would marry someone of another race and he is likely to blanch at the thought, according to a new study on how far race and religion affects the way Singaporeans interact with one another.

For instance, 99 per cent of Chinese said they would marry someone of their own race. But only 31 per cent approved of marrying a Malay or Indian.

When it came to picking a Prime Minister, all said they would accept a Chinese. The proportion willing to have a Malay and Indian as PM goes down to 91 per cent and 94 per cent respectively.

The minorities in turn are fully accepting of a Chinese PM as well as someone from their own race becoming PM.

The survey measures attitudes stated by respondents to a set of 13 questions on how race and religion features in private relations and public relations, spanning the social, political, econonomic and security domains.

The authors - Norman Vasu and Yolanda Chin of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies - say the findings sugest that inter-racial and inter-religious harmony here is robust.

'It shows that Singaporeans are mature enough not to let race and religion affect their coming together in the public sphere,' said Assistant Professor Vasu.

A total of 1,824 Singaporeans were polled as part of the study, done earlier this year.