A friend of mine who lives and works in Singapore mentioned to me David Marshall, a leading Singaporean political leader and apparently one of the Founding Fathers of Singaporean independence -- and, it turns out, a Jew, of Iraqi extraction of all things.

My tentative survey of Marshall's career suggests that I'd probably have disagreed with many of his positions, though I'd probably have agreed with others. I'm not trying to praise him, or to claim joy in my ethnic kinship with him. But it is striking just how politically active -- and often politically successful -- Jews seem to be, even in places where they're a tiny minority, and where you'd think their alien status might keep many voters from connecting with them and trusting them.