Postcard from Bishkek

Fifty years ago, on 23rd November, 1963, a phenomena was born.  It was a Saturday evening and Grandstand, the BBCs flagship sports programme had come to en end … and onto our screens burst the psychodelic graphics and electronic music of the Dr. Who theme tune that is now recognizable almost anywhere in the world … even here in Kyrgyzstan.  

I won’t say that it’s popular here but it is shown late at night on one of the cable channels, annoyingly dubbed so that you can almost hear the English dialogue under the Russian voices.  

The TARDIS is the Doctor’s ship, able to travel through time and space.  It is supposed to have a “chameleon” circuit so that it can disguise its appearance to fit in with the local surroundings, but this has been damaged and so it appears as a 1960s police telephone box.  

Incidentally, I see that the TARDIS has become the center of a copyright dispute.

TARDIS, as almost any sci-fi fan can tell you, stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, and refers to the unique feature that although it appears small on the outside, once you enter through the doors, you find yourself in a vast structure … it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. In a way, I think Kyrgyzstan is like that … although it is a small country, once you cross it’s borders you find yourself in a country which is packed with a little bit of everything … mountains and plains, forests and lakes, caves and ancient cities …         The Marshrutkas are like that too … thew minibuses that ply the streets picking up and dropping off passengers as they go.  It’s amazing how many people can cram into a minibus …

Indeed, overloading has been identified as a major problem by the Vice Prime Minister who described this as one of the two main causes of accidents on Kyrgyzstan’s roads; the other was speeding.

I don’t know how maw many of the 6000 road traffic accidents that happened in the first 10 months of the year involved minibuses, but we seem to have seen quite a number recently …  one in which the minibus was carrying a group of police cadets and another where 23 people were travelling in a bus designed for just 18.

That’s a 30% increase on the number of accidents in the same period last year – most of them occurring the Chui/Bishkek area – but that’s where most of the vehicles in the country are registered; over 300, 000 out of the 800,000 vehicles in the country

Funnily enough, although he mentioned lots of other factors like the conditions of Kyrgyzstan’s roads, the technical upkeep of vehicles, the quality of driver education the Vice PM didn’t seem to mention “drunk driving” … which I think most people would rate as a major problem – even if, legally, Kyrgyzstan has a limit of zero alcohol in the blood for driving.

 

The big news of the week has been the arrest of the former speaker of the parliament on charges of corruption and the abuse of power.  It is said that he was actually under investigation that date back to something like 2005, but the paperwork was lost in the 2010 revolution when Procurator’s office was torched.

Even so, many of his supporters consider that this is nothing more than a political move by powers that be to silence a critic who had been making noises opposing the sale of KyrgyzGaz to the Russians.  Some of these supporters organized a protest meeting outside the parliament building, other, (down South), utilized the favourite local tactic of blocking roads, and a defense committee has been organized.  They have said that they “are ready for drastic measures” if he is not released … the answer of the court was to remand him in custody for two months.

The authorities maintain that it was a purely administrative decision to make the arrest – and that there was no political pressure brought to bear.  It has even been said that the President and government weren’t aware that it was in the offing – not even Parliament was consulted, (which they normally would have been as he is still a sitting member … but because they were “serious crimes” carrying a penalty of more than 10 years imprisonment – this step wasn’t required under the rules) … and that the President was even out of the country when it took place – even if that seems hard to credit … with such a high profile character and the security services reporting directly to the President.

Interestingly, the deputies in the parliament decided not to establish a commission to look into the arrest … but who knows where it might lead.

One of the former deputies that was imprisoned for attempting to seize power a year ago, for example, addressed a crowd down South accusing the government of acting illegally and saying that the current protests were just a sign of growing public unrest and dissatisfaction with the current authorities.  He was clear to say this time, however, that he urged people not to take the law into their own hands.  

There have been other signs of public disillusionment in the authorities … such as the activist who is trying to initiate a Public Impeachment of the President and is already mounting a campaign to collect the required number of signatures.  That might have carried a bit more weight if it wasn’t for the fact that he also tried to organize similar actions against both Presidents Akaev and Bakiev – without success.

Meanwhile the President has been busy, especially on the international front with  meetings at the beginning of the week with the Kazakhs, followed by an official visit to Korea … so there’s been a lot of attention to our relationships with both countries – diplomatic and investment opportunities … and so on.

Another major foreign affairs story that just won’t go away is the future of the Manas Transit Base … I suppose we might have been excused for thinking that the delivery of the official note to the Americans announcing the end of the agreement might have been taken as a signal for the final chapter in this particular story … and the news that the Americans have indeed already begun their withdrawal – well, I suppose they can’t leave everything to the last moment – might be an indicator that this was indeed the case.

There were, however, a number of interesting twists in the news coverage … some from here and others from coverage stateside:

The first was that the Kyrgyz government have apparently sent a note to the Russians confirming that they have delivered the note to the Americans … I wonder why.  After all, everyone was adamant that the decision was not the result of any agreement with or pressure from the Russians.

Then there was also an official comment in answer to a question that Kyrgyzstan and the United States are NOT discussing the possibility of concluding a new agreement on the presence of U.S. military servicemen in the country after the base closes.  The subject of a new new agreement “has not been brought up and is not being discussed”.  OK – got that … but then, the official said that “the closure of the base “will have no effect on bilateral cooperation” between the two countries.  ”This cooperation will not come to naught and it will be further developing.”  Hmmm … what exactly is envisaged in this statement was not clear.

From the other side of the world … the Pentagon came under fire, so to speak, because it was spending money providing English Language textbooks for Kyrgyzstan students at a time of severe budget cutbacks … What I found particularly interesting was that although the material in the books should be adapted to match local conditions here in Kyrgyzstan, there was an insistence that they should be written “in American English not British English”.

 

The other long running story concerns the Kumtor gold mine. According to President Atambaev this is now a political issue not an economic one -pointing out the potential consequences in the event of the parliament standing it’s ground, rejecting the accommodation negotiated with the company.  He said that the demands that the country should receive 67% of the shares in any restructured company are “unrealistic” and doesn’t reflect the fact that the important thing is not the number of shares, (after all, the share price of the Centerra company that operates the mine have fallen to a new low on the Toronto stock exchange),  but the overall financial benefit.   

He’s not the only one drawing attention to the possible consequences of renouncing the agreements … one of the trade union has also added his weight to the discussion.

The Kumtor controversy is often cited as something that will dissuade potential investors from considering Kyrgyzstan.  However, in a new Global Competitiveness survey we actually improved our rating, coming in 121st place, (out of 147 countries and territories surveyed) which may not seem all that impressive but does show progress on lat years ranking of 127th – out of just 144 countries.   This, it was argued, was the result of economic reforms, changes in the state institutions and in improvements in the infrastructure, (such as the construction and rehabilitation of roads).

Perhaps, however, the most interesting story involved a community somewhere in Naryn where there is a “secret gold mine” which is operating “off the radar”.  The vein of gold was discovered by Soviet geologists in the 1940′s, but it was never developed … until, that is, the economic downturn.  Now, something like 60% of the village is involved in finding and processing gold nuggets – and are apparently making a .  They agreed to talk to the journalist on the understanding that they wouldn’t be identified – not even the name of the village.

 

As well as the statistics of the number of vehicles and road traffic accidents, and the competitive index, we’ve seen a flurry of other interesting figures emerging throughout the week.

There was, for example, the assertion that the average person in Kyrgyzstan manages to read just 19 pages a year … This was revealed as part of a press conference on libraries and their development … and ironically elicited a promise from the Minister of Culture to introduce more computer facilities into the country’s libraries.   Unfortunately, although it was drawn from an international survey, there were no international comparisons offered – but it did bring to mind the reports of graduates in Britain and America who never read a book after they graduate.

Then there was the report that there are some 552000 pensioners in the country, which means that they make up about 9% of population.  No doubt this proportion will increase as another report informed us that life expectancy has increased to 70.

In addition, there was some good news in that official figures child mortality is also down 29% over the last 10 years … and by 3% in just this year to date.  What’s more, maternal mortality is also down this year … by 30%.

On the other hand, the number of suicide is increasing 96 in the period from January to September … mind you, that’s just 2 more than in the same period last year. Unfortunately, 75 of them were schoolchildren … and there were also youths who were not studying in an educational institution.  The most common causes seemed to be conflicts with parents and quarrels with a girlfriend/boyfriend. Most often the youths decided to hang themselves although some chose to hump out of windows.

 

As with the Tardis, a postcard like this can only scratch the surface of events … there a lot more inside … for example, I haven’t the time or space to consider:

• The fact that the new ombudsman has come out to oppose the proposed new draft law which would brand NGOs that receive finance from abroad as “foreign agents” … a euphamism here which is generally understood as “spies”;
• Two new beatings … a journalist and a lawyer;
• A shortage of vets  … which could be important for the vital agriculture sector of the economy;
• Concern expressed over the number of Chinese working in the country … that could lead to further tensions – especially as we face an influc of “migrant workers” having to leave Russia and in need of employment;
• the rising crime figures that the authorities think may well be linked in some way to those returning migrants;
• the plans for introducing digital TV … that may have to be put “on hold” as Kyrgyzstan doesn’t have the money to finance the initiative;
• the arrest of am alleged “fraudster” from Guatemala … who apparently managed to persuade people to part with large sums of money to buy special paper which could be treated to create Euro or Dollar banknotes;
• a recent turn in the weather … a cold spell that led to the main Bishkek-Osh road being closed and the Ministry of Emergency situations sending out warning messages by SMS to every mobile phone in the country;
• the number of “working children” in the country which appears to be increasing … with teenagers often keeping not only themselves but also their families by working practically in all sectors of industry: on rice, tobacco and cotton plantations; in the service sector (car wash, shoe shine, the transportation of goods in markets).

… to mention just a few of the stories we have seen over the last seven days.

 

 

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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:

Tags: In_the_News, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards