Postcard from Bishkek

America has just got through the exercise of running an election for the highest office in the land – the Presidency.

It always struck me as intriguing in that when the founding fathers chose the title of President for their Head of State … it took them some time to decide on this particular formulation.  It is said that George Washington turned down the title and office of King … and in their rejection of anything approaching the British Monarchy, the thirteen colonies sought to limit powers and status of the person chosen to be their head of state.  They considered the lessons of many different societies throughout history, (especially classical Greek and Roman models of government),  eventually deciding on the option of President, because it offered the lowest status – that of someone who simply Presided over a body or process rather than having any inherent specific power or authority.

This year’s election campaign for POTUS, (the President of the United States), had a number of unexpected stars apart from the main candidates … , for example: an empty chair and an eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall, all dinging and dancing bright primrose-yellow bird that writes poetry, draws and which can also roller skate, ice skate and ride a unicycle – Big Bird.  Big Bird is a character in the long-running children’s television series Sesame Street, the which first episode of which aired on 10th November 1969 and is renowned for its educational content and creativity.

I am not sure to what extent the Big Bird saga played in Mitt Romney’s defeat in Tuesday election, (if any), but knowing how important birthdays and anniversaries are here I suppose we ought to wish Sesame Street and Big Bird a Happy Birthday, so, here goes : “Happy Birthday Sesame Street … Happy Birthday Big Bird!”

Big Bird would probably be relieved to know that poultry meat is not exactly a staple of the local diet.   Oh, that’s not to say that there is no poultry at all … it is quite popular and there as a host of chicken dishes on restaurant menus, there are rotisseries on the street selling freshly roasted Chicken, in the market if is possible to buy smoked chicken and there was even an attempt to launch a local version of KFC – Kyrgyz Fried Chicken, that is.  Rather it seems to be a function of the fact that keeping poultry did not exactly sit well with the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the Kyrgyz, but we should note that many villagers keep chickens and ducks – although that may be for the eggs as much as for the meat.

As it happens, I bought a Turkey a couple of weeks ago – I think the farmer timed it wrong, hoping to cash in on the Thanksgiving holiday but produced them for sale at the end of October instead of at the end of November.  The bird I received wouldn’t have been a rival for the Big Bird title and could have done with the extra month to put on a little extra weight … Mind you the farmer has promised that there will be more in time for the New Year celebrations and suppose he can’t time that wrong … although for Christmas Dinner a week earlier would be nice.

On the other hand, there was a report during the week that a survey carried out by the World Food Programme in September revealed that poor households in Kyrgyzstan are particularly vulnerable to soaring food prices.  The price of the traditional “food basket” has grew by 20% in October, (although, to be honest, it wasn’t clear to me from the reports that I read if this was over what period this was measured).   The fact that poor households will experience difficulty in coping with inflation will come as no great surprise, of course, but there were some interesting details buried in the report.  Apparently households are spending something like 60% of their budgets on food, with about a fifth of their income going on flour and products made from flour, (bread, pasta, pies, …), which makes up about 40% of their diet – dairy produce accounting for another 12% and potatoes another 8%.  In fact, it went on to say, that whilst the diet consisted primarily of cereals, butter, potato and sugar … proteins, (either animal or vegetable proteins) were notable for the absence.  This is particularly notable given the fact that meat is considered to be the staple of the traditional diet.

As an aside, another report stated that the average salary, (at 10524 som about USD220, EUR172 or BBP140), is currently almost two and half times the minimum subsistence level, (4322 soms) – which was probably set before the recent increase in inflation.   The Deputy Minister making the announcement was further quoted as saying that salaries had risen by almost a quarter since the start of the year – partly because of the 35% increase in the educational sector … although other reports pointed out that many teachers are not receiving the proposed increases), and that the average pension in the country stands at 4070 soms – that is less than the minimum subsistence level.

When if comes to celebrating those birthdays and anniversaries then there will be numerous toasts to be proposed and drunk … and another survey, (this time from the World Health Organization), revealed something perhaps a little more surprising.  It seems that Kyrgyzstan was ranked 107th out of 188 countries when it comes to alcohol consumption – and that is lower than in neighbouring Kazakhstan (in 34th place), although more than in Uzbekistan, (in 132nd place).  Although I wasn’t sure how they arrived at the figures, and they didn’t seem to add up in the report I saw, but the survey covered people 15 years and over and estimated consumption of just over 5 litres per person – with almost half of that being in the form of strong alcoholic drinks – that is, spirits.

 

Corruption is in the news again with two public bodies apparently competing to “out” the worst offenders. According to the Minister of the Economy the hotbeds of corruption are to be found in the State Registration Service, Tax and Customs authorities … whereas the General Prosecutors’ Office points the finger at the Ministry of Internal Affairs … that is, the law enforcement agencies.

I suspect that most people would have difficulty in trying to decide who is right.  There certainly seems to be a lack of trust in the law enforcement bodies … an article on Eurasianet.org highlighted the rise of private sector security firms and some of the concerns and suspicions about both the public and the private sector.

I suppose a lot depends on how you define corruption – after all, it isn’t just to do with bribery, and although the traffic police may be notorious for eliciting or accepting payments for road traffic violations, most of these are much smaller than the sort of figures that gossip suggests have been paid for other things.  In the past the finger was pointed fairly and squarely at the Town Planning and Architectural bodies, state purchasing bodies, at educational and medical institutions, and more recently at the Social Protection Ministry responsible for approving international adoptions.

Whenever Registration is required, there is always the possibility of corruption raising it’s ugly head.  It seems that there is now a move to require places of worship, (places where religious rites are celebrated), to be registered in addition to the organizations themselves having to be registered.   Without registration, the venue will not be able to function.  I haven’t seen the formal proposals but wonder how “House Churches” would be able to cope with this … and I presume it means that it would not be possible to hire venues, (for example, the Stadium, the Sports Palace, or a conference room), for anything approaching a “religious rite and practice”, and “prayers” … which might also raise a problem with the current practice of holding weddings and wakes in restaurants.

When it comes to registrations, over a hundred financial institutions have apparently had theirs withdrawn by the National Bank.  These are mainly microfinance institutions that were charging clients interest rates of anything between 200% and 300%.  As it happens, according to some statistics issued during the week, most of the financial services in the country are provided by the banks.

There has been some mixed news on the economic front – both good and bad.  The GDP has fallen by four and a half percent in the first nine months of the year.  According to the Deputy Minister who made the announcement, the recession was due to a fall in gold production by 70% at the Kumtor gold mine … if the effect of Kumtor is removed from the figures then there was apparently a 3.8% growth in GDP.  I might help that Centerra, the Canadian company which operates the Kumtor gold mine, has announced that they have revised their estimates of the reserves in the gold field.

 

On the political front our more volatile politicians have been in the news.  Some who were being remanded in custody have been allowed to return home under house arrest.  Another is still being held in prison, and has been seen by psychologists for assessment – who have apparently pronounced him sane, which I suppose should be a relief to his electors.  He has, however, announced that he has enough of politics and wants to emigrate to Russia.  I wonder what they will think of that.  Also, a parliamentary commission has declared that detention of one of their members by the Prosecutor’s Office was illegal.

 

There has been some considerable coverage of the country’s readiness to face the coming winter season.   We keep seeing reports in the Bishkek press, for example, about major repair work being done to the power grid which will lead to power cuts whilst this work is undertaken.   Some of the deputies, however, are adamant that the preparations made by the power and heating companies are not going to be sufficient … and that we are likely to experience power cuts again this year mainly as a result of yet further equipment failure rather than the low levels of water in the reservoirs as a few years ago.

At least we are being told that there should be no problem with the supply of gas … on the other hand … who knows?

The situation is not helped by the fact that international financial institutions are apparently not interested in investing into the main meat and power plant here in Bishkek.  Fortunately there is plenty of interest from abroad in investing in the various hydroelectric projects that are currently proposed.

The Russians are also interested in investing in the modernization of both the Kyrgyz and Tajik armies.  We are used to seeing stories like the military aid received from the States or Turkey, (during the week, for example, there were reports of how America has provided vehicles for the Border Service troops), and as well as making sure that they maintain their presence in the region, Moscow is presumably preparing for 20144 when the Americans pull out of Afghanistan and who knows what might happen then.

The other major player in the region’s new version of the Great Game is China.  America is not the only country that has been electing its leadership this week – China’s is also undergoing its regular selection of the next generation of leaders.    Here in Kyrgyzstan they have lots of interests – from road building and mining, to planned railway construction and hydroelectric power production.  They keep hitting problems however, and the latest seems to be a prohibition on Chinese transport being used to convey goods through the territory of Kyrgyzstan.  This has long been a thorny question here as Chinese vehicles tend to be bigger and heavier than those that used to travel here in Soviet times and they are blamed for the poor condition of the long distance trunk roads.  It’s also hoped that the measure will increase the work available for Kyrgyz transport industry.  I am not sure, however, how the Chinese will take it.

At the end of the week there was a report of an Israeli citizen being arrested on the basis of an international warrant issued through Interpol.  It seems that the guy was on the run from Israel, where he is wanted in connection with the sale of human organs.  Apparently he has some connections with Russia … and, so it would seem, with Kyrgyzstan; not only was he staying here, apparently he was using a forged Kyrgyz passport.  Well, I suppose that the  Kyrgyz authorities are showing that they are working well in cooperation with Interpol …  I wonder if that means we will see more assistance in tracking down the fugitives who have fled the country following the April revolution.

 

The Swiss have now joined the growing ranks of countries which opened an embassy in Kyrgyzstan.  In some ways that is surprising because the Swiss are not only one of the main bilateral donors but they are represent a major trading partner although this bilateral trade has apprently fallen considerably during the year.   Indeed, the opening of the embassy provided the opportunity for announcements of further increases in support.

It was a meeting with the delegation visiting Kyrgyzstan for the opening of the embassy which brought about the biggest surprise of the week occurred – a report where the Deputy Prime Minister reported that Kyrgyzstan had caught up with France when it came to the number of visiting tourists.  I was dumbfounded as France is amongst the most popular destinations worldwide.  It seems that the three million tourists visiting Kyrgyzstan (if we can believe the official statistic) represents the equivalent of 60% of the population of Kyrgyzstan … and it seems to be this ration in which we have caught up with France … I think … ???

 

As usual, there are a while host of stories that I haven’t time nor space to cover: the continuing scandal of the kidnapping of a TV presenter by two journalists … as a joke for their newspaper, (one does have to question the definitions of both comedy and journalism that consider it appropriate to kidnap someone, strip them to their underwear and point a pistol at their head);  the collapse of a toilet in a busy bazaar which cost four lives and a large number of injuries; the opening of more free wi-fi zones in central Bishkek, it’s hoped that by the end of the year there will be ten of them … and so on …

 

Finally, however, … as an aside: although it might not seem significant to the Americans, (… for whom the equivalent date was 11th October, 2012 …),  but for the rest of us today … 10th November, 2012 … is 10/11/12.

 

_______________________________________

Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there has been the following postcards:

• Chokan Valikanov – on what would have been his 177th Birthday I take a look at the Kazakh scholar, explorer ans spy who helped open up Central Asia to Europe and the West.
• Bank Transfer Day – November 5th 1605 and Guy Fawkes sought to blow up the Houses of Parliament, November 5th 2011 and members of the Occupy Wall Street sought to create an equally significant revolution in the financial world by trying to persuade people to switch from High Street Banks to not-for-profit Credit Unions … and even here in Kyrgyzstan, Financial institutions have been subject to criticism …
• A country the Brits have never invaded … – apparently, Kyrgyzstan has the distinction of being one of the few countries in the world that Britain has never invaded, (it seems there are only 22 of them …), but it could have been a different story if …
• Historical Statue at risk – the monument to the Second World War hero Ivan Vasiliyevich Panfilov was special in that it was one of the few to be erected during the course of the conflict, (on November 7th, 1942), but now the statue by Olga Manuilova is at risk
• Spartak Stadium – effectively Kyrgyzstan’s National Stadium, used for all sorts of sporting events and concerts.
• Suimonkul Chokmorov – on what would have been his seventy third birthday, I looked at the life and career of this famous Kyrgyz film actor who was also a talented painter and who is featured on the 5000som banknote.

It is now possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg and Kyrgyz Diary), and on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards