IT'S just a matter of time before Singapore sees a prime minister from a minority race, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Friday - but it won't be him, as he is not interested in the job.

IT'S just a matter of time before Singapore sees a prime minister from a minority race, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Friday - but it won't be him, as he is not interested in the job.

His interests aside, Mr Tharman added that such a move would not be necessary, since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is fortunately very healthy, and also because there is already a group of younger candidates waiting in the wings.

This crop of people - those already in the fray, and those entering it - will provide Singapore's future leadership, said Mr Tharman.

Mr Tharman was speaking at an SG50+ conference themed "Singapore at 50: What lies ahead?", jointly organised by the Institute of Policy Studies and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

At the event, Mr Tharman engaged in a more than an hour-long dialogue moderated by American journalist and author Fareed Zakaria.