Postcard from Bishkek

“It’s amazing that no-one’s ever thought of this before?”, says Tommy, one of four extraterrestrials on an expedition to Earth, posing as a human family in order to observe the behaviour of human beings in the in the late 1990′s TV comedy sitcom, “3rd Rock From The Sun“.  The aliens are imaginatively called Tom, Dick and Harry … and Sally.

Well, Tommy is the “information officer” and, despite being the oldest member of the team, has been given the body of a teenager instead of his own “gelatinous purple tube” and so he is forced to enrol in high school.  He is set the task of writing a book report on “David Copperfield”.  He is having difficulty and somebody suggests he get a Study Guide which will summarize the plot and outline the various themes Dickens explored in the novel.  When he discovers that the study guides have sold out, he decides to rent a copy of the video, instead.  Unfortunately he rents a copy of  a video by David Copperfield the illusionist and magician … which made for a very imaginative report.

As it happens, I missed out on “3rd Rock From The Sun” in that it made it’s first appearance in 1996 – after I had already left for Kyrgyzstan.  I came across it on my visits back home over the next few years.   The typical plot for an episode concerns the group’s difficulty in integrating themselves into Earth culture and customs as they encounter something for the first time.  Their view of life on Earth is distorted, as it is based on  images presented in the media, (especially television), rather than firsthand experience.

Although the programme has been criticised for the nature of some of the situations and the way in which they are treated, (the dialogue and slapstick), it made some interesting observations on what is sometimes called the human condition through the medium of humour.

Of course, people have thought of Tommy’s little wheeze before (!) and, to be fair, study guides can sometimes be very helpful.  They have, for example, helped me to find my way around several of Shakespeare’s plays and made them more accessible and understandable than would have been by simply “diving in at the deep end”.

Well, I wonder what our four aliens would have made of events here in Kyrgyzstan if they had landed here and not in Ohio.  The media, in particular the TV, might well give them a very distorted idea of life here in Bishkek.

Of course, they would see a lot of news coverage about the change of government after last week’s shenanigans which led to the collapse of the coalition.   Without internet access, they would have missed out on an interesting little spat.  A comment in the highly regarded Economist magazine, (making sardonic comments about the place accorded to the horse in Kyrgyz society … and how it was a horse that helped bring about the demise of the Prime Minister, along with disparaging remarks about the process), got short shrift from a n American journalist writing on a local website.

They would, however, have learned that after a remarkable swift round of negotiations agreement was reached by three parties to enter into a coalition – and the remaining two parties in the parliament seem to have entered an “opposition agreement”.

One of the news agencies ran an interesting project on their website: allowing participants to make their suggestions as to who should go into the cabinet, and where.  It was a bit like creating a Fantasy League football team and some of the proposed teams were imaginative – if not exactly realistically.  I can Tom, Dick and Harry taking a lively interest in this – until they discover that there were no prizes.

During the week, Jantoro Joldoshevich Satybaldiev was selected and approved by the Parliament as Prime Minister.  He presented a list of Ministers and a Government programme to the parliament which seemed to be, basically, more of the same – and the fact that the new government seems to be consist of most of the same faces occupying most of the same chairs around the table is one of the most commonly voiced criticisms it has faced in it’s first week.  In saome respects it seems to resemble the British cabinet reshuffle, which one commentator suggested was: “Much Ado About Nothing“.

Satybalidiev did point out, however, that he wanted something to change; he wanted it to be a government of “actions, not just words“.

For the record: Satybalidiev is in his his mid-50′s, (I am beginning to feel my age because he is yet another Prime Minister younger than me!)  He hails from the a village in the Uzgen district of Osh oblast, in Southern Kyrgyzstan; is married with four children, (three sons and a daughter).  He trained as an engineer and worked on a number of road construction projects before becoming Minister of Transport and Communications for a time in President Akaev’s administration.  He also headed the city administration in Osh and served as Mayor of the city.    Following the Tulip Revolution he became the President’s official representative in the South and after a couple of years leaving government and entering business.  Following the 2010 revolution he returned to public servicetaking responsibility for the reconstruction of the South and becoming Vice Prime Minister/  When Almazbek Atambaev was elected to the Presidency, Datybaldiev became the head of the Presidential administration.  His appointment as Prime Minister, although he is technically a member of the SDPK, is seen as a neutral choice for Prime Minister.

Now most people starting a new job can look forward to a “honeymoon period”, but the new cabinet seems to have been thrown into an existing maelstrom, so it is a good job that they are all , so experienced.  On Monday there was a protest outside the White House, calling for the dismissal of Parliament.  That must have been a bit of a record because the session hadn’t even been been resumed following the summer recess.  However, they’ve dispersed, although they have promised to keep a watching brief on the situation – with the implication that we haven’t heard the last of them yet.

There have also been protests in Kara Balta where a group have set up a commission to “oversee” the allocation of licenses for the mining industry after the last auction was disrupted by protesters.

Although most members of the government have been reconfirmed in position, those belonging to the Respublica Party, of course, lost their seats in the government and have been replaced.  There have been some other political casualties, as well.   The ambassadors of Kyrgyzstan to both Belarus and Great Britain, for example, have been dismissed.  I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but members of the Bakiev family fled to those two countries following the 2010 revolution and there is no sign that either country is likely to extradite them.

In the parliament there was an altercation between two of the more prominent members that almost broke into fisticuffs – and from the clip shown on the TV news it looked as if it could have turned out quite nasty if some of the other deputies hadn’t held them back.  I can imagine what Tom, Dick and Harry would have said about it. Sally, being the team’s Security officer,  has a belligerent character and she would probably been criticising the pugilistic techniques being employed.  Anyway, it was quite interesting that when we watched the news reports, even the kids turned round and asked “What do they think they are doing? … Even if they have a good reason to be angry with each other, they shouldn’t do it in public, in the parliament!”  Their condemnation wasn’t restricted to the politicians, either …  ”… and the TV company are making it worse by showing it!”

Other people that have attracted criticism were the officials who were allegedly caught taking bribes in the international adoptions scandal.  The news reports suggested huge sums of cash changing hands, although it wasn’t clear to me how much of this sum was for paying official fees and other (legitimate?) expenses.  The figures cited were certainly a lot more than those cited in some of the other stories where people were supposedly caught “red handed” handing money over.   To confuse matters further, in one case the accused said the money in her possession was for the purchase of vitally needed medical equipment.

There was an intriguing story about corruption emerging from one of the donors, that seems to be reaching the end of its tether as costs for the HIV project that they are delivering are rocketing, seemingly spiralling way out of control.  (Apparently, according to the report, a test for HIV which costs USD20 elsewhere in the world seems to cost the Kyrgyz Government USD547 … I suppose that it’s a good job that someone else is actually picking up the tab.)   Local officials deny, of course, that their anything amiss, but the figures quoted in the article have created a little stir in the local media.

As an aside: I see an American consultant is actually owning up to a mistake in an Excel formula that boosted the cost of their project by two million som – that’s about USD40,000 … I am not certain but it looks as if it was discovered at an early stage in the process, (e.g. before bids were tendered or money actually changed hands), and I think they need to be given credit for their openness and transparency, (even if it means losing a little face), after all we all make mistakes … but it could have led to a very interesting situation if it had come to light later on …

There is more work being undertaken with respect to the new Silk Road, the revival of which we are witnessing according to President Atambaev.  As well as the renovations of the Bichkek-Naryn-Torugart -Kashgar road, which is currently under reconstruction, and the work on the plans for the proposed China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad, the Chinese have been asked to help with the reconstruction of the Osh-Batken road.  There has also been yet more talk about cooperation over the construction of power distribution network – and discussions are on-going with the Russians (and the new Russian ambassador) about the hydroelectric generation projects.

 

There is survey evidence that the majority of people are like Tom, Dick and Harry … and Sally, in that they get most of their news from the television.  That’s not only true of news, but also our exposure to our knowledge of history and culture; literature, music, theatre and dance.  I have to admit that I have been introduced to many historical periods and events through film and TV adaptations.  I understand, however, that even if they are “faithful” to the original, they are still just samplers, edited highlights and not as good as going back to the original text.  In some cases, (take the Declaration of Independence, for example), the text cannot be simplified and reduced to a video clip, a film adaptation or news report – and we often need to go back to the original documentary evidence.

Even a study guide, to be fair, can sometimes be very helpful.  They have, for example, helped me to find my way around several of Shakespeare’s plays and made them more accessible and understandable than would have been by simply “diving in at the deep end”.  On the other hand, a plot summary is just that – a summary – and relying upon it may (will inevitably) mean missing out on the intricacies of the sub-plots,  the beauty of the language or a myriad of other aspects of the work – and so they should be seen as a tool rather than a substitute.

Today happens to be International Literacy Day, established by UNESCO back in 1965, to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies, reminding the international community that literacy “is a human right and the foundation of all learning … essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy“.

There is a theme selected for activities each year and this year it is Literacy and Peace.  You can find out more on the UNESCO website.

Here in Kyrgyzstan, according to UNICEF’s statistics, the literacy rate among adults is 99% and amongst children of school age it is actually 100%, and although other surveys don’t paint such a rosy picture, they all seem to agree on a literacy rate of between 97 and 100 percent.   In the 1920′s, following the Bolshevik revolution, Kyrgyzstan saw considerable cultural, educational, and social change and in particular the level of literacy increased dramatically due to the extension of the educational system and the introduction and development of a  standard literary language.

It wasn’t exactly a smooth and easy development.  The Kyrgyz language belongs to the Western Turkic group of languages.  An Arabic-based Kyrgyz alphabet was originally introduced in 1924, (similar to that which is still employed for the Uighur language), only to be replaced by a Latin script in 1928, which in turn was superseded in 1941 by one based on the Cyrillic alphabet.The support for the preservation and development of the Kyrgyz language has been an important feature of Kyrgyzstan’s history, (both during the Soviet period and also, markedly, in the post independence period).

 

Returning to Bishkek for a few moments, here are a few stories that I thought deserved some attention:

The weather has, at last, turned cooler but that didn’t stop a number of fires breaking out, around Lake Issyk Kul, in the Kyrgyz Range of mountains to the South of Bishkek and near Djalal Abad in Southern Kyrgyzstan.  Something like 800 hectares were engulfed in flames, causing some evacuations to take place, and some of the fires have proved difficult to extinguish.

The Olympics may be over but we’ve entered the period of the Paralympics.  Kyrgyzstan only had one competitor participating in the event in London: Esen Kaliev, a powerlifter who managed to finish in 10th place in his category.  (For the record: Powerlifting is apparently also called “power triathlon” and  includes three exercises: squats on the shoulders, bench press on a flat bench and thrust rods.)  Even though he wasn’t in the medals, it was a creditable performance and he should be congratulated for qualifying in the first place.

He wasn’t the only representative of sporting success this week as some young sportsmen managed to win four bronze medals in the World Championships in Greco-Roman Wrestling which was held in Baku last week.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs have announced that they intend to conduct a review to assess the impact of abolishing the visa requirements for the citizens of 44 countries on the number of tourists visiting Kyrgyzstan  That sounds sensible, but I confess that my cynical side got the better of me as I recalled that the Ministry have always been reluctant to support this measure – indeed, until recently they actively opposed it.  I was concerned, for example, when I saw in the opening paragraph of the report that they intended to conduct this review by the end of the year.  That seemed to me to a little early.  According to the report they will be making a comparative analysis of statistical data for the second half of 2011 and 2012, but the measure didn’t become effective until the middle of July … so any effect on this year’s statistics is likely to be marginal – especially as many tourists from the 44 countries would have already made their travel plans for this year – indeed some would have already taken and completed their 2012 holidays.  Mind you, credit where credit is due, they did recognize this and said that, “a complete picture may be obtained by the end of 2013″.   I might want to quibble with the word “complete”, (I would have preferred the word “better”).  When, for example, are any statistics “complete”?, after all it normally takes  several years in tourism for trends to become visible.  Mainly, however, because this is only one of many factors which will affect the number of tourists visiting the country.  Please don’t misunderstand me … I am not opposed to the review – that seems to be a sensible thing to do – but I am concerned about the details: the who?, where?, when?, what?, how? and why?

 

 

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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:

• So much to discover! - Kyrgyzstan’s new tourism brand, logo and slogan;
• Oodles of Noodles - Did Pasta originate in Italy … or in Asia?;
• Paperboy - On Newspaper Carrier Day, I take a look back to when I was growing up and being a paperboy was one of the signs that young people growing up and starting to take their place in the world …  how things have changed;
• Cruel and Unusual Taxes - a look at what one newspaper called ten of the most absurd taxes of all time – and how some of them are still alive and well … and raising money in one way or another;
• Kochkor Ata – one of the seven shrines - Kochkor Ata is the name of an ancient holy site in the North of Kyrgyzstan and also a modern city in the South of the country;
• Sayakbai Karalaev - On the 118th anniversary of his birth, I take a look at the life of the manaschi Sayakbai Karalaev;

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