Kulimkhan HASENOVA
ALMATY, April 29
(THE GLOBE)
The government�s appeal to people requesting us �to tighten our belts� has been quietly accepted by the Kazakhstan people. It can be said that they treated the request with understanding. Many of them have already made the next hole in their belts, and had to give up not entertainment, but common human needs: proper food, medical treatment and rest. This has proved once again that the people of the country are patient, peace loving and trust their government, which does its best to lead the state out of the crisis.
Stability is still the main thing for a Kazakh citizen. That is why he does not see that there is hardly is a man who �has tightened his belt� in the government. At least according to the information about �high marriages� held in the most expensive hotels and sanatoriums with participation of the Russian �stars� and European cooks, and about endless foreign �investment conferences� which have no adequate result, are published from time to time in the press.
Against this background yesterday�s announcement of the new block of the public organizations �Bolsyn� may be considered as the first concrete step against the silent agreement of the people with the decisions taken by high-power ranks. The block �Bolsyn� (which in Kazakh means literally �let it be�) consists of public organizations that unite people whom we usually call �the strata of population most socially vulnerable�: the Council of the Afghanistan veterans, the Invalids� Society, Coordination Council of the Mothers of a Large Families and �Chernobyl� union. All of them are in a difficult position at the present time. The organizations� appeal to the President, government and Parliament was the following: �Despite all the difficulties of the transitional period, no other CIS country has taken such measures. We declare our disagreement with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 374-13 dated 07.04.1999 �On supplementation and changes to the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan regarding privileges of separate categories of the citizens.� The law contradicts other legislation (article 5, Law �On social security of the invalids� � author) and was approved without any consultations and coordination with the interested public organizations.�
According to the heads of the block, all of them understood the economic situation, the unavailability of money in the State and local budgets. Until today they undertook �some functions on assistance in settling social problems, the reduction of social tension in the society�. As it was stated by one of them: �For a long time we were the buffer between the state and thousands of our citizens who needed the state support.� Yesterday at the press conference they declared that it was getting more and more difficult for them to execute such functions. �We are categorically against of any unorganized meetings and manifestations, but there is a high probability that they may happen,� the President of �Chernobyl� union Bolat Razdykov said.
The heads of the public organizations consider the social state grants stipulated by the government instead of the existing privileges and guarantees to be inadequate and to make thousands of families lead a beggarly life. The catastrophic situation of the invalids, veterans of the Afghan war and mothers having a lot of children has even worsened today -though the state is obliged to search for the other ways of settling the problems. This is the position of �Bolsyn� block.
The block�s concrete proposal was the following: to decrease the number of the different powerful structures. �What are the akimats for, if they solve nothing?� The journalists also were asked, how should a thousand tenge which would be paid as compensation of their privileges be spent: to pay the flat bills or on transport charges. In a fit of temper Bolat Razdykov called the money �a tip�.
Despite everything, the block is ready to talk to the government and the Parliament, and hopes that their appeal will be heard. �For the time being we have managed to calm down those people who call for meetings and strikes, but the situation may soon get out of the control,� the participants declared.
Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY, April 28
(THE GLOBE)
�The next Parliamentary election will not be democratic and will be conducted under the same conditions as the Presidential ones. Kazakhstan will face internal political and economic crisis.� The country will face international isolation leading to the outflow of the foreign investments�, the representative of the Republican People�s Party of Kazakhstan (RPPK) stated on April 28 in Almaty.
Nurbulat Masanov believes that by taking the last unpopular measures the government will turn the people against it. The Law on elections should be significantly changed to comply with international legal standards, otherwise the electorate will shun the power even more, the representative emphasized.
The corrections required to democratize the election legislation proposed by the RPPK and some opposition parties were not taken into consideration during the preparation of the new law on elections. In their opinion, the new variant of the law is even more undemocratic and proves that the government completely ignores the public opinion. The government is not going to fulfill the undertaken international responsibilities, in particular as a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
�After the OSCE announced that violations had taken place during the last Presidential election and Nursultan Nazarbaev promised to execute further democratic changes, the country waited for them, but they have not occurred,� the chairman of the Executive Committee of RPPK said.
According to Gaziz Aldamzharov, the RPPK is going to nominate about 30 candidates to deputies. In the current situation the party counts on 2 to 3 places in the Parliament.
�The Parliament of the republic should express its civil position, as it is impossible to constantly ignore the people�s will and to capitulate before pressure of the government, which has led the country to the deep crisis. Parliamentarians should say that this law on elections and cosmetic measures proposed by legal functionaries to save and harden the existing law, do not comply with society�s interests,� he remarked.
As was announced by Mr. Aldamzharov, within a month (after registration of all the regional subsidiaries) a constituent congress of the Republican Party will be held. A memorandum on elections in Kazakhstan will be approved at the event and the question of whether the RPPK will take part in the election will finally be solved.
According to the latest information, as of April 28 the Parliament has approved the bill concerning changes and supplementation to the Law on elections, thus ignoring the proposals of the opposition. Now the latter will have to play according the rules provided by the new law.
It seems that the February blow in the Uzbek capital not only made the president of Uzbekistan take rigid measures, but the presidents of the neighboring countries to think about their respective situations. For the time being, in Astana the authorities only forbade the parking of cars with private numbers near the Parliament. (At least, this was the only measure was noted by the press, when one of the deputies insulted the functionary of the Road Police Department. The policeman forbade the deputy�s son from placing as usual, his car near the �office� of his father. In response to his document and an annoyed, �Do you know who I am?� the policeman answered: �It is done to secure the President in connection with the terrorist act in Uzbekistan�.)
In Kyrgyzstan, if we are to judge from publications in the local press, they have began to search for an enemy. In particular, the mayor of Bishkek Felix Kulov has already suffered from a �witch hunt�. Today he is the ex-mayor. There were the rumors about him as the organizer of the coup d�etat and attempt upon the president�s life. The rumors say that he organized four analytical centers, a military group, and that several heads of the departments of the Ministries of National Safety (MNS), Internal Affairs (MIA) and General Office of Public Prosecutor work for Kulov.
In his interview to the correspondent of �Vecherny Bishkek� newspaper, the ex-mayor said that at present all the forces of the operative departments and MNS and MIA were involved in checking his personality and other peoples whom they considered to be close to him.
In his opinion, a secret meeting of the Ministers National Safety, internal Affairs, General Prosecutor, head of the special service of the state security, functionaries of the upper ranks from the president�s administration was recently held at 4 a.m. After this meeting there were mass interrogations, searches, arrests of the personnel of the anti-terrorist center �Kalkan�. As it was announced by the Minister of National Safety Mr. Ashirkulov at the session of the Soviet of people�s deputies, 6 officers of the center �Kalkan� were arrested in the last week, and 20 functionaries of the department were sent on the open-ended leave. The Minister stated that the men are suspected of organizing of intercepting the highest leaders of the country. Interception was executed with the help of equipment bought at the cost of US$ 300000.
Why is the mayor of Bishkek today considered a suspect? He was the Minister of National Safety a year ago, and indeed it was in that period, that the special equipment was purchased in Moscow, according to him at the price of US$ 60000. The mayor also added that a part of this equipment, namely intended against of unsanctioned interception was handed over to the president�s security. Besides, he announced that he is considered by the journalists, deputies and ministers a cool Mafiosi, having his own killers, a wide net of agents, criminals, etc. working for him. The Mayor believes that somebody from the heads of the special services whispers to an ear of journalist and deputies all this nonsense and further they only have to fabricate facts. It is probably correct, but he himself worked in the same special services, and he must know how this machine works.
Are there really some secret enemies of the Kyrgyz president, organizing a revolution to dismiss him, or it is just a prophylaxis, some purge of the functionaries? It is difficult to state exactly. The fact is that highly qualified specialists are dismissed and not appointed to other positions.
In his application for retirement the ex-mayor of Bishkek wrote: �I consider it impossible to continue my work under your ruling, as I suppose that you permit actions which do not comply with any democratic and legal standard.
I am deeply convinced that the events occurring today are repetition in a renewed form of the searches for enemies and opponents, which happened before.�
History repeats itself, or is renewed in difficult periods of time. As far as Uzbekistan is concerned, according to the latest data, the prohibition for incoming Kazakhstani loaded vehicles and buses with passengers, resulted in a reduction of the turnover between the two republics from US$ 1.5 million to US$ 30 000.
Banu MARAT
BISHKEK-ALMATY
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