Editorial: Lend Tunisians a hand

The world is sitting idly watching — some with fascination, others with trepidation — at the unfolding political turmoil in Tunisia. Governments around the world seem unsure how to respond to the people power that brought down the 23-year regime of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

The tiny Arab nation, with a population of 10.2 million, is entering a period of uncertainty. One or two neighboring Arab leaders have condemned the revolution but most others have largely remained silent. The last thing any government or world leader wants is to be caught backing the wrong horse.

In the wake of Ben Ali and his family’s departure into exile to Saudi Arabia, Tunisians are tittering between the joy of their newfound freedom and anarchy. A fragile interim government led by President Fouad Mebazza is struggling to convince the skeptical population that it is free from the influence of the old political guards by going after the relatives and cronies of Ben Ali.

It is just as well that this “leaderless” revolution is coming from within, and is not the result of outside influences. The last thing Tunisians need at this delicate stage of their political transition is to be perceived as representing external interests. Given the support Ben Ali had enjoyed from the West — to the point where Tunisia was branded a “moderate” nation in spite of his repressive policies — the United States and the West are spared from the usual accusations of conspiracy theories made against them in people power movements in other countries in the past.

While governments around the world wait before committing to support the emergence of a credible government in Tunisia, this should not prevent global civil society organizations from lending a hand to the Tunisian people. Going by Indonesia’s transition from the Soeharto dictatorship in 1998, this is the period in which civil society, including the media, is called on to help restore and maintain stability and order in the country.

Civil society can never be a substitute for government, but a strong civil society can help fill in the power vacuum created during the transition from a dictatorship. Anarchy, if it prevails, could send Tunisia back under the dictatorship of another tyrant or religious extremism.