Dhaka, Aug. 20 -- Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's election as the country's 23rd president on Thursday can serve an important message to observers of Bangladesh's often dysfunctional political arena, provided we heed it: for all the discord and disunity and disruption that has afflicted it over the years, somehow it still retained the ability to reward honesty, decency and principled leadership.

Although his ascension to the top constitutional post in the republic had been more-or-less set in stone on the day Prime Minister Tarique Rahman revealed him to be the candidate of ruling party BNP, which enjoys a supermajority in parliament, the formality of having MPs vote their choice was qpqcompleted today.

Standing against him was Colonel (r...