A man for all seasons
Holbein's portrait of Sir Thomas More
When I was a lad, as the saying goes, one of my heroes was Sir Thomas More.
To be fair, I think the reason was a combination of the fact that we were studying the Tudors and Students for our O-Levels, (there I am, giving away my age once again!), and Sir Thomas was one of the outstanding characters of the period,
At the same, we saw the release of the film of Robert Bolt’s play, A man for all seasons, which was based on the trial and execution , (on July 6th, 1535), of Henry VIII’s chancellor for treason, having refused to endorse the King Henry VIII’s wish to divorce his aging wife Catherine of Aragon, who could not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress.
The film was based on a stage play, which in turn was based on a TV adaptation of an earlier radio play. It portrays Sir Thomas as a man of principle who suffers the envy of various rivals, such as Thomas Cromwell, and loved by the common people and, of course, his family; a man who remains true to himself and his beliefs while adapting to all circumstances and times, despite external pressure or influence.
As such, Sir Thomas represents “a man for all seasons” … but not like the Vicar of Bray who cynically changes his Church along with the fashions and fads, (and legal restrictions), of the day. He was a principled and well respected man and his execution shocked Europe. His integrity, honesty and resolution, commitment to justice and service and doing “the right thing” were a striking example and model to me as an impressionable teenager … one that I have always tried to keep in mind … and such a contrast to the image of politicians that we have today as scheming “wheelers and dealers”.
He was a humanist in philosophy, but not as we would understand the term today – he was an ardent Catholic and was canonized as a Saint in 1935 – eventually, even being acknowledged as such by the Church of England, whose very existence he would have opposed. The historian, Hugh Trevor Roper described him as ” the most saintly of humanists, the most human of saints”.
A man of principle, I am not sure what Sir Thomas, (St. Thomas), would have made of the news and statistics emanating from Bishkek this week.
He might have been intrigued about the news of Central Asians (from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) that have gone off to Syria to fight in the civil war there. A few weeks ago there were stories about young men being radicalized recruited from the Ferghana valley to go and fight, (although, apparently, it may be that the main source of recruits might be from Islamic schools in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan). Then, at the end of May it emerged that at least three, (from Tajikistan), had died fighting for the rebel forces. It seems that the numbers are small, (for example, something like 20 or so from the small town of Kyzyl Kia in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken oblast), and some of them have already returned home … but the security services are obviously anxious about the situation and are said to be keeping a careful watch on development.
He would also have been concerned about the situation on Kyrgyzstan’s borders in the region which are still the subject of some concern. Apparently there have been some 16 incidents on the Kyrgyzstan/Uzbekistan border during the first half of the year … two of them involving weapons – and at least one death in Kadjimai. The Uzbeks have refused to join in a joint investigation of that incident raising the prospect of different versions emerging from the accounts of people on the two sides. Many of the incidents that occur on the border seem to revolve around pastures and animals, (that are obviously ignorant of the formalities), wandering aimlessly across the man made borders. It’s not just the pastures that provide a potential flash point, however, and as well as constructing border fences and roads to bypass the different enclaves, there are now moves to construct a special power line that will avoid the territory of the Uzbek Sokh enclave.
I wonder what he would have made of all the furor over the Kumtor mine. No doubt he would have wanted to stress the need to preserve the rule of law – but I suspect that, being a man of principle, he might have had some sympathy with those protesting what they see as injustices.
As a civil servant, he would probably have shocked by the news of the effects that the continuous disputes seem to be having, both on the company, but also on the country as a whole and its economy. It emeerged this week that not only have the government lost a lot as the value of their shares in the Company has fallen, tax receipts in the budget have also declined considerably, even though trade in the precious metals market generally has prospered. What is more, in 2011, Kumtor apparently accounted for 12.2% of the country’s GDP … but in 2012 this had fallen to just 6.6%. It will be interesting to see what the figure for 2013 is likely to be. In the meantime, the government are still looking for a way to “fix” the dilemma that they are in and are looking to recruit more experts to conduct yet more environmental assessment.
On top of that, (although the management of the company say that they have no knowledge of the letter), it was reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs have written to ask the company to pay compensation for material and moral losses which resulted from the most recent disturbances, when several policemen were injured, police vehicles damaged and a police station set alight. It’s not clear, at least to me, what is meant by “moral” losses, and who would receive the compensation … or if the losses incurred by the company have been taken into account. Assuming that the report was accurate, this is presumably just another of the “demands” facing the management of the company as it undergoes restructuring … alongside those of the residents of the Djeti Oguz rayon where the mine is based.
A previous President once said that Mining and Energy were the two wings of the Kyrgyz economy … apparently discounting Agriculture and food processing, Textiles, Telecommunications, Tourism, Trade and a host of other sectors of the economy. (If tax receipts from the flagship, Kumtor, are down, those from the mobile telephone operators art on the “up and up” with Megacom being declared the best taxpayer for the last year.)
Energy is very much in the news at the moment … in addition to the World Bank projects I mentioned last week, there have been more stories – particularly about electricity generation.
Not only does Kyrgyzstan have a lot of potential for the development of hydro-electric generation, the system is old and in need of modernization. Perhaps the most shocking news came when it was revealed that in the period 2010-2012, on average there was a power cut (outage) somewhere in the country every two hours – and during the inter period, (when demand is presumably higher), rising to almost one and hour.
The Datka substation, (built at a cost of over two million dollars – with support from China), will produce something like 500kV of electricity and is just one of 18 power plants, connected in a network of something like 10000km of high voltage transmission lines with 514 substations. It was officially opened this week and President Atambaev hopes that it and the other projects, (such as the construction of the Karambata Hydro electric power stations on the Naryn Cascade), will help to make the country self sufficient in terms of energy in the near future.
Although the substation has been commissioned, there’s still a problem with the construction of the power transmission lines, which were scheduled to come on line in the middle of 2015. The President apparently asked the Chinese to expedite the work so that it could be finished at the end of next year and although they agreed, they have hit problems with the terrain and with some of the local population and now say that they can expedite the work any faster and the completion date has been put back to mid 2015.
I don’t think Sir/St. Thomas would have been very impressed with the news that, in the eagerness to get on with the construction of the Karambata Ata power station on the Naryn River, the river was dammed before everything was ready for dealing with the outflow. The capacity of the only turbine in place is just 300 cubic meters per second, but the inflow to the reservoir is five times that and the excess is having to be diverted through drainage facilities. The additional flow has apparently caused some damage to the drainage channel, washing out one of the embankments and creating a hole in the floor, which is going to cost a bomb (just under ten million dollars) to correct.
On the other hand, there’s a new petroleum refinery in the town of Kara Balta is due to start in operation in August … with a capacity to refine some 800000 tonnes of petroleum products in a year, it will be the largest refinery in the country. At the moment Kyrgyzstan currently has a refinery in Jalal-Abad (with an annual capacity of refining something between 300,000 and 400,000 tonnes), and in Kant, (200,000 tonnes) – with another refinery in Tokmok already in the planning stages. The people of Kara Balta seem to be in two minds about the new refinery; excited at the prospect of a boost to the local economy and the number of new jobs that it will generate, but worried about potential pollution.
Kyrgyzstan doesn’t really have much in terms of oil reserves, although there is exploratory drilling underway in the Ferghana valley at the moment, but the refineries will process imported crude, resulting in a reduction of costs of having to import and transport all sorts of separate products. It is thought that the new refineries may result in Kyrgyzstan becoming self sufficient and independent in terms of refined petroleum products in the near future.
Sir Thomas probably wouldn’t have been impressed by the news that a group of about eighty Chinese workers employed on the reconstruction of the main Bishkek-Torugart highway who allegedly attacked a group of policemen and officials conducting a “raid” on one of the hostels where they were based, (acting on information received about irregularities over documentation: people without visas, work permits, etc.) I say “allegedly” because the Interior Ministry said that there had been “no attacks on their staff”. However, the news reports told how seven people who had been detained as a result of the raid were freed in the disturbances and fled into the mountains – and, as far as I am aware, they may still be there. Another twenty five or so who were involved in the disturbances were arrested and “investigations” continue.
It might be tempting to think of this as an example of learning from the Kyrgyz … “if you don’t like something then protest” … but it looks as if it might be symptom of a much more general malaise. Just over the border in the Xinjiang province of China, for example, there have been a number of other incidents where police stations have been attacked.
I am not sure, however, what he would have made of the amnesty in legalizing capital which came into effect on 1st July. For six months people will have the opportunity to declare income from the “shadow economy” with a guarantee on that there will be no tax audits or prosecution on the basis of data provided in the declaration … there are some complications such as the need to pay a “small” fee - a “one-time payment”. The idea is to let people clear the slate and start afresh – but previous attempts at trying to create an amnesty haven’t been very successful so we’ll have to wait and see what happens this time.
However, it is just one step in the the attempt to deal with the shadow economy and combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The Financial Action Task Force, (an international organization based in Oslo in Norway), had earlier threatened some form of sanctions against Kyrgyzstan for its lack of progress in this area, so it was relatively pleasant to hear that they have now welcomed the efforts made by the government and its action plan to tackle the problem … although they admit that there are still several shortcomings which need attention.
Statistics wasn’t really a developed area of mathematics in Sir Thomas’s day, but I think he might have been able to understand many that were published during the week.
He might have been impressed, for example, with the news that there are 344 markets operating in the country with an annual turnover of over a hundred billion som – at least according to official figures, so I guess it must really be a lot higher. Like me, however, I think he might be asking questions about what is meant by the term “market” … because virtually any settlement of any size seems to have one – and Bishkek has a lot – so 344 seems a little low.
Sir Thomas may been a Man for All Seasons … an example of renaissance man, interested in everything and able to his hand to almost any activity. He had a particularly enlightened approach when it came to education and, unusual for the time, provided his daughter with a particularly rich and enlightened education. As a scholar and a man of letters, Sir Thomas probably would have been impressed with the news that Kyrgyzstan holds one of the leading positions in the world when it comes to the provision of Higher Education – with 20 Universities per million head of the population. Well, it might be leader in terms of the number of institutions, but that doesn’t say anything about the quality of education or the viability of the the institutions. It is, however, an indicator of the value placed on education in the community.
Having said that, the news that something like 135,000 school students study in schools that are considered to be “unsafe” in one way or another, is not so impressive. We do suffer from a number of earthquakes each year, for example, and the images of the schools that collapsed in China as a result of a recent earthquake are still vividly remembered.
Earthquakes are only one form of “natural disaster” that the Ministry of Emergency Situations is called upon to deal with … recently there have also been mudslides, rockslides, yet more snowfall and floods resulting in the loss of more livestock … being washed away. During the week there was one story of a herd of a pasture with over a thousand head of livestock being struck by lightning … it must have been quite a frightening experience for the herdsman looking after their animals – creating a crater ten meters wide and half a meter deep … and killing 355 animals. The loss is going to present the farmers with quite a difficult financial burden as many of them were purchased on credit, to be repaid from the eventual sale of the animals. Very few people here carry any form of insurance, and I am not sure if there are policies which would cover such an event.
Given the Tudor approach to social welfare – he might have been impressed the state provision of special institutions for children with disabilities which cater for almost four hundred individuals … until he looked a bit closer and discovered that there are about 26000 such children in the country. Many of them cannot go to school – in rural areas that can involve quite a long journey – every day – and so, stay at at home without access to educational facilities … the Minister of Social Development even said that many of them still cannot sign documents at the age of 16.
There is, obviously, still a lot to be done before we can say we have reached anything approaching the Utopia that Sir Thomas described in his book which gave the name to a genre of literature which has inspired people of many nations and across the centuries, (even if they didn’t agree with his particular image of a “perfectly ordered society”).
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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:
- In and around Naryn - Here are some thought in answer to the question: What is there to see and do around Naryn? – 30/06/13
- A valuable research tool - On the anniversary of the publication of the first Encyclopaedia – 01/07/13
- The Day of the Ufologist - Some things are stranger than fiction … including apparent UFO sightings in Kyrgyzstan -02/07/13
- The Sun has got his hat on … and is coming out to play - On Stay out of the Sun Day some thoughts about ho to avoid the problems related to Kyrgyzstan’s hot summers – 03/07/13
- The wrong day ??? - The Americans celebrate Independence Day on 4th July … but I wonder how many of them realize that this is almost certainly the wrong day – 04/07/13
- Buying a package - Birthdays and anniversaries are pretty important here, so I thought I would mention that Friday was the birthday of the Package Tour – 05/07/13
It is possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg, Kyrgyz Diary and Kyrgyzstan Visitki), and also on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).
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