COMMENT | Napoleon Bonaparte, former French emperor and regarded as one of history’s greatest military leaders, once lamented that there were so few statespersons in this world.

Statespersons are those who would not only show true greatness in exercising power but would not resort to displaying pettiness (such as using race, religion, and gender cards) to gain power. Few politicians in this world would qualify to be statespersons.

Therefore, winning elections alone may not necessarily mean that the politicians who won are doing the right things. Of course, the democratic wishes of the voters must be respected. But true democracy is a lot more than that.

Might and “tyranny of the majority” have often been proven to be oppressive and unjust to the minorities in many countries around the world, especially when such minorities are...