The events of Friday night were hectic to say the least. As rumours on international news stations intensified that former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was seeking refuge in Malta, local media scrambled into action.

Government lines and spokesmen’s lines were blocked as round robin phone calls were made to see whether there was any substance to the rumours. In the end, they turned out to be just that; rumours.

Ben Ali was on his way to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But it really does raise the question. Where was Malta in all of this? As tempers flared in Tunisia and protesters took to the streets on a daily basis, there was not even a peep out of the Government of Malta. The first we heard officially was a simple travel warning a couple of days before matters came to a head.

Malta always makes a point to mention that it is the bridge to North Africa, both geographically and culturally. So why were there no statements of a diplomatic nature on the matter? Tunisia is very close to Malta, and there are (or at least were) good relations with our Maghreb neighbours.

There are a fair few Maltese citizens in Tunisia and there are others who are Maltese-Tunisians. There are also a fair number of Maltese businesses with branches or bases in Tunisia. It is one of our closest neighbours; yet at a time of crisis… we heard nothing. Not a peep.

The government has not yet expressed itself on the new Tunisian leadership process, and that is fair because one would have to analyse and then make contact on a diplomatic level. But we do find it very odd that not one statement was issued.

Whenever there is a problem in the occupied territories of Palestine, the government and the opposition immediately pipe up with something – whether it is a statement of solidarity or condemnation.

Could it be that relations with Ben Ali were perhaps too good? As soon as he was ousted, it seems like the longest open secret in North Africa was let out all at one go. Tunisia was a police state where torture, kidnappings and murders took place and that Ben Ali and his family plundered the goods while ordinary Tunisians scraped together a living. It seems that everyone knew about it and simply did and said nothing about it. In fact, because Ben Ali was a Western ally and committed in fighting terrorism, then it seems a blind eye was turned.

We all know this and Maltese public know it too. Many have visited Tunisia before and we were all content to go and shop and bask in the sun, knowing all along that Tunisians were terrified of the President.

Malta is not the only country to turn this blind eye; for all their condemnation and ‘refusal’ to let him land in Paris, the French courted Ben Ali. The US courted Ben Ali as did the Germans, the Italians and many others. It was a comfortable relationship, and that is why no country spoke up as all the drama was unfolding. Many countries were also panic stricken about a possible domino effect revolution in North Africa. The long and the short of it is that we had a duty to speak up… and we didn’t. All we can now hope is that our nearest North African neighbours can fashion a better life for themselves with minimal bloodshed in the process.