Postcard from Bishkek

Technically, 5th June is Tynwald Day … although this year, because it falls on Saturday all the pomp and ceremony associated with it will actually take place on Monday.  Now, unless you have already encountered the word Tynwald, and soknow what it refers to, it seems to be a bit of an enigma.

It seems to be an odd collection of letters without any connection or relationship with other words – so that you could hazard a guess as to what it means … perhaps it is an acronym standing for something like Thank You Nigel What a Lovely Day … (well, yes, OK … I confess I had problems thinking of a suitable word for N), or maybe it’s a portmanteau word combining parts of two or more other words to create a new one in order to convey some subtlety of meaning, but if it is is then the obvious components are Tyn and Wald – neither of which are words in English, although Wald means Wood in German … which leads us to another possibility – perhaps it’s a foreign word that has been “borrowed” sometime in the past before it became an English word … and indeed it is.

I’m not sure if it is a Manx word, (the language of the Isle of Man which lies in Irish Sea between the mainland island of Great Britain – comprising England, Scotland and Wales – to the East and Ireland to the West), but is is derived from the word for the Place of Assembly in Old Norse.

Tynwald is the name of the parliament of the Isle of Man and comprises of the elected legislative chamber of the House of Keys … and the Legislative Council whose members are appointed by the Lord of Man (who happens to be the ruling monarch of England – yes, Queen Elizabeth is also the Lord of Man).

It is claimed that the Tynwald is over a thousand years old and as such to be the world’s oldest parliamentary body that has been working continuously.  Like most such organizations, it has its own particular traditions and procedures which seem to date back something like six hundred years.

Technically, 5th July, is known as Tynwald Day – when a special session of Tynwald is held on Tywald Hill … a specially constructed (that is man-made, artificial) hillock which serves as a sort of stage or platform around which the formalities and ceremonies to unfold.  This year, however, because it falls on a Saturday, the session will be held on Monday.

For the record: Although Parliament is the name we give to the representational chamber of government that we use in Britain  it’s not actually an English word … it’s origins lie in the French word parler - to talk – and was used to mean a gathering to discuss important issues, (or the place where such discussions were held), and over the course of time came to refer specifically to debates on matters of state and legislature.

Here in Kyrgyzstan we have one of the world’s youngest parliaments … well sort of.  The Jogorku Kenesh is based on the the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the constituent republics of the USSR.  Even since Independence in 1991 it has undergone several reorganizations – at some times consisting of two separate chambers, but currently consisting of just one.

After Independence, Kyrgyzstan opted for for a Presidential Democracy on the basis of an Executive President with considerable powers.  Over the years there were several amendments made to the legislation governing the parliament and its activities, changing its structure and re allocating the powers and responsibilities of the state between the between the President, Parliament and Government.  After the 2010 Revolution it was decided to move away from a Presidential Democracy system of government to a Parliamentary Democracy, where the Jogorku Kanesh

For the record : even as nomads living under a patriarchal system of “government”, the nomadic Kyrgyz had a system of assemblies called Kurultai  … amongst the Turkic and Mongol peoples the Kurultai was the military and political council which met as circumstances required to discuss important matters such as declaring war or electing a Grand Khan (although there were precious few of those among the independently minded Kyrgyz).  As the nomadic peoples lived in small isolated communities scattered through the mountains or steppes, it was a pretty momentous decision to call a Kurultai.

Although both Presidents Akaev and Bakiev called Assemblies which they named Kulrultai, the term is also used by various including opposition parties who call an Assembly to discuss issues.  Back in 2012, the parliament considered a bill to govern and regulate such assemblies.

 The Deputies have joined the country’s schoolchildren in starting their long summer break … even if they are not going to be discussing high matters of state over the next few months, I suspect that many of them will remain in the limelight.

They’ve had a busy year – although holding only some 76 plenary sessions, they’ve considered some 265 different Bills, passing 176 of them, (so almost a third of them were rejected) but only 137 of them were signed into law by the President, (meaning that another 40 fell at this hurdle).  That means that the Presidential veto was employed over 22% of the time … an impressive record when you consider how rarely the President of the US exercises his veto, (Barack Obama, for example, has used the veto on just two occasions … the same as George Washington.   Apparently there have been just over two and a half thousand vetoes since 1776 … Franklin D. Roosevelt holding the record with 635 – but he was a four term President … with Grover Cleveland not far behind with 584 and 212 of those came during the two years of the 50th Congress ), or the the fact that the British Monarch rarely ever uses theirs, (the last time was on 11th March, 1708).

An analytical piece in the popular newspaper Vecherinye Bishkek (Evening Bishkek) there was, looked at what it considered to be some of the most significant discussion in parliament this year:

• the decision to end the Statute of Limitations for corruption offences …;
•  a measure to prevent officials, and their close relatives, from participating in government tenders; 
• placing some limitations on who can be employed as assistants and consultants by MPs, Ministers, and so forth; 
• a proposal  to introduce a system of regional lists of candidates instead of just a single, national, Party List;
• introducing criminal responsibility for journalists, (and their sources?), who make “false reports” in the media – in particularly “knowingly” falsely accusing someone of a crime; 
• a bill that significantly increased the penalties for “drunk driving” and “road racing”; 
• the introduction of a ban imposed on the State Tax Authorities to ask for payments of taxes in advance … in order to help them meet the all important “plan”; 
• a ban on the sale of property to foreigners in the “border communities”;   
• a ban on the “advertising of sex services” … and, of course, there is
• the ban on “gay propaganda”.  

Interestingly it missed the measures that

• delegated responsibility for establishing energy and other tariffs to the government;
• introduced tougher penalties for blocking roads as a protest action;
• the forced resignation of the government under Prime Minister Satybaldiev and
• the question of whether or not to consider the removal of the ombudsman … given that he’s not long been in post.

Among the commentaries about these various measures there is the suggestion that the deputies are basically adopting “populist stances” whilst avoiding the main issues and difficult decisions.  Take, for example, the question of energy tariffs.  The move they’ve taken, albeit at the suggestion of the government, effectively approves increases but shifts the responsibility … and is designed to do so with the minimum amount of “noise” … knowing that it will be an unpopular move – indeed, it was one of the things that helped lead to the  2010 revolution.

Some of the measures do look as if they are “window dressing” – and it will be interesting to see how effective they will prove to be.

Take the ban on asking business to pay taxes in advance … this is a measure used by tax officials in order to try and meet planned levels of revenues for the budget.  There’s a shortfall, so businesses are asked to consider paying some taxes early, money which is due to paid into the budget the next accounting period – say the next month.  It’s a short term measure which relives the pressure on officials in the present, but is likely to increase the pressure in the next, especially in the event of a downturn in the economy.  Unfortunately, we are seeing a fall in tax revenues and customs duties …. for a number of reasons … and the government needs to replenish its coffers, (and hence the tendency to phone round and ask companies for assistance in meeting targets), and it is hard to see how such “learned behaviour” can be “unlearned”.

One, dramatic, example of the economic downturn is the decision of Reemstma (a subsidiary of British Imperial Tobacco Group) to close it’s cigarette production here in Kyrgyzstan.  To be fair, they are closing other factories around the world as well, including their largest facility in Nottingham.  Reemstma was/is one of the largest examples of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the country and it’s loss will have a considerable effect on the country.  The anti-tobacco lobby may be happy to see it go, but I wonder about the workforce and the many small business that depended upon it … yet alone the government which will face yet another downturn in tax revenues.

Having said that, the British Ambassador reported that there is a growing number of British businesses interested in investing in Kyrgyzstan … somewhat surprisingly, (to me at least), according to statistics from the Ministry of the Economy, Britain is the third biggest investor in the country.

 

For some reason, the criminal penitentiary system has been in the news this week … the ombudsman reported that there were more than 50 cases where people were convicted of crimes on the basis of confessions obtained under “torture”.  This revelation came about at an event to mark the Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Another interesting statistic to emerge was that so far this year, some 25 inmates of penitentiary institutions have died from tuberculosis … and another 45 new cases have been diagnosed.  Oddly enough, this apparently represents an improvement … a considerable improvement, because just eight years ago the fatalities was about five times greater.

Another piece of news  was that a special detention center (that is, prison), is be constructed for convicts serving life sentences and will open sometime next year.

It will be interesting to see if Aziz Batukayev will end up there.  He was accused of being a “gang boss” and was convicted of various offences, but was the source of a scandal last year when he was from prison released early, on medical grounds, given a passport and flew out of the country within hours of his release.  He was was apprehended in Russia, detained by the authorities there at the request of the Kyrgyz prosecutor’s office, and they are seeking his extradition.

As an aside, one of the NGO’s providing legal assistance to the population reported that there is a no provision under Kyrgyz legislation on the use of corporal punishment of children.  This claim was picked up by at least one press agency, although he was making a wider point about the protection of the Rights of the Child, and in particular the provision made in some “boarding schools” (basically “children’s homes” or “residential care homes”) where the use of “child labour” is, he said, widespread.

One rather pessimistic comment  that I saw about the current state of the education system, suggested, among other things, that the “demand” for education is falling … poor employment rates have an effect depressing the value placed in education and reducing the level of enrollment across all age groups – and seemed to be significantly more more marked in rural areas – coupled with a “struggling” academic performance and linked this to low salaries for teachers.  

There may be a considerable amount in the article – but I was intrigued to see how it highlighted the decision to introduce a mandatory school uniform as one of the reasons for falling school enrollments … as many families are unable to afford it. This contrasted with the claim from the Ministry of Education popular support for the measure among parents.  As it happens, this week saw a photocall of a presentation of several potential designs that were submitted to a national competition.  Some things were taken for granted in the specifications for the designs, (for example, long sleeves and skirt lengths) but most that I saw were of a fairly classical cut … and some were quite stylish … but I am not sure how much “popular support” there will be among the children who will have to wear it.   

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I couldn’t help but smile to myself when I saw two reports about international military exercises in the region.  The first concerned forces from Russia and several Central Asian states and was designed to address some of the issues likely to emerge out of Afghanistan now that the “allies” have/are drawing down their military representation in the country.  Of course, it’s in Russia’s interests to protect its southern borders – and in the classic theory of creating buffer states … trying to move any potential border problems to the borders of those buffer states rather than Russia’s own borders.  That seems to be part of the reason they are offering so much technical and material support to the Kyrgyz military.

The other report, on the other hand, referred to American military exercises … being held in … Mongolia.

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It’s not just Afghanistan that is proving to be a worry.  The authorities have now identified something like 80 Kyrgyz citizens in Syria, participating in the conflict there – including some 10 women.  There is considerable concern over the recruitment of these people by “militant extremists” and surveillance of different groups has apparently been stepped  up, and the authorities are citing the use of the internet in the process as a particular concern.  I can’t help wondering if this will be a prelude to introducing new and greater controls.

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A bit closer to home, the question of water supply has been n the news again … many experts consider this (and have been claiming it for years) as, not only an important issue but a critical one which could lead to conflict.  Some pundits are adamant that part of the underlying reason for the recent clashes between both the general population and the militaries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan down in Batken was down to access to water.

It’s ironic therefore that in the same Batken region there is a serious threat of flooding – so far it’s not as marked as we have been seeing, for example, in Europe … but 20cm of water is still a significant problem for people to come to terms with.

Up here in Northern Kyrgyzstan, there is a serious potential shortage of water … last week, when we went up to Naryn, we stopped off at the Orto Tokoi Reservoir and Maxim went for a walk to take some photos … out onto the plain which only a short while ago, under water … “where did it all go?” he asked – “for irrigation”, was the answer.  He was surprised when I told him that I have seen the reservoir with even less water – when the course of the river which that had been  dammed back in 1956, was clearly evident.

Indeed, there is speculation that we too will soon be facing a water supply problem … and the government are seriously trying to improve the irrigation facilities throughout the country.

If we have taken certain things for granted … like access to water, gas and electricity … then we are beginning to get reminders of not only how things were, but how we also ought to start preparing for a difficult future.  With the temperatures souring in the high thirties (Centigrade, that is), even in the middle of the night, we keep seeing the interruption in the supply of virtually all the utilities.  Just like in the South, we’ve got a month with no gas here in Central Bishkek … but at least we know that it is because they are carrying our essential repairs.  The water has also been cut off several time – again for essential repairs, and whole districts of the capital are facing disruption to electricity supplies as the infrastructure is undergoing maintenance.  During the last week, here in the office, I have lost work several times when the power went off suddenly for an hour, or two … or three.       

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Once again, I have come to the limit of my time and space for a review of the last week here in Kyrgyzstan … and there are lots of stories that I haven’t had the time or space to include … but I hope that my selection  of news items proved interesting.

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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:

•  Traveling during Ramadan - although it won’t affect many visitors to Kyrgyzstan, traveling in predominantly Muslim countries during the Holy Month of Ramadan can raise a number of issues – 29/06/14
• Zakon podlosti - the local version of Murphy’s Law – 30/06/14
• Oochastkoviy – The Beat Cop - encounters with the local beat officer – 01/07/14
• Shashlik - a popular meal – 02/07/14
• The Lenin outcrop - a local landmark on the road to Naryn – 03/07/14
• The story of the Yurt the ‘backstory’ on  the traditional dwelling of the nomadic Kyrgyz – 04/07/14

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