Among the amendments and laws discussed in Parliament this week, the most interesting and entertaining was a proposal by member of Parliament Sat Tokpakbayev to rename the capital city to Nursultan in honor of the President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his role in not only running the nation but also building the city of Astana and promoting it to the world. 70% of members of Parliament apparently supported the idea.

However the President is against the change, or any renaming of the capital in his lifetime. He personally chose the name “Astana” as legend has it because it is easy to say in any language. “Astana” means ‘capital’ in Kazakh. According to the AFP, however Nazarbayev was not necessarily against a future name change. “The decision to change the name will be made by another generation,” he said in an interview on Friday.

This is not the first time someone has suggested renaming the capital in honor of the President and one does not an awful lot of buildings and organizations with the prefix “Nur”, which means ’sunbeams’ in Kazakh.

Some of the comments on the proposal from nomad.su are worth noting. One commentator points out that it will be unbelievably expensive to change every document, map and sign that has the word Astana on it. Another woman notes that she is tired of living in a country where names constantly change and is ashamed that her Parliament seems to do nothing but rename things. Finally one commentator proposes renaming a resort on Lake Kapshagai Sat, in honor of the Parliament member who made the proposal.

Astana has a new flag and seal, designed by the President and approved by the Mashlikhat of Astana on the 6th of June. According to nomad.su, the old seal was appropriate for the old city, once the capital of the Virgin Lands agricultural project. The new symbol is more fitting for the capital of a modern nation. The akim of Astana, Tasmagambetov noted that it was logical for the seal to change as the city and country are changing.

The new flag features a shanirak, the roof piece of a yurt, which symbolizes home and hearth and stability and is a widely used symbol in Kazakhstan. A stylized Baiterek is also clearly visible in the center. The Kazakh decorations represent bird’s wings and fire.

The old flag (center element is the seal)



The new flag (center element is the new seal)

Azat (formerly Nagyz Ak Zhol) announced this week a plan to resolve the financial crisis.

The opposition party highlighted the crisis as resulting in a decline in industries unrelated to oil and mining, a stagnant retail market, a decrease in real income for 70% of the population, and causing issues in tax collection. They have called for the Prime Minister, Karim Masimov, to step down due to his “incompetence”.

They also called for the end of unnecessary expenses. The president made a similar request in his Address to the People of Kazakhstan earlier this year. However, the opposition includes construction of prestige projects in Astana on its list, as well as special military organizations. They say this will lead to $2 billion in savings which can be put into salaries and pensions. Another $7 billion they suggest should be taken from the National Oil Fund (which was created to be used in the case of financial crises but as yet has not been touched) and put into the economy.

The government should also pay for renovation of infrastructure, repairs of apartment buildings and highway construction, according to Azat. At the moment much of that work is done by government contract to private companies. However PPP (Public-Private Partnerships) have plagued the government for years because there is no clear understanding of what it means. The Prime Minister recently called for a brainstorming session on this topic.

Finally the opposition party called for the National Bank to cancel its requirements for commerical banks to hold reserves equal to their credit, so that more loans and credit can be accessed by the people.

For a mostly negative review of this plan, see Adam Kesher’s post on Neweurasia.

Around 4pm yesterday it began to snow. And it hasn’t stopped yet. Temperatures were around -5 in the morning and obviously colder at night meaning roads are icy. This is I believe a heavier storm than we got even in winter. It does take away some of my desire to celebrate Astana’s birthday in June. But hopefully by then the snow will have melted!

This is what my trip to work looked like this morning.



As usual the city fathers called out a dozen plows to cover the same area.



Poor street cleaners!



The sudden winter scene was not without its beauty



Particularly where the wind created dunes. Which was everywhere as the wind has been very heavy





Some people were more energetic than others cleaning off their cars.

Askar Mamin, akim of Astana, will become the head of Kazakhstan Temir Zholi, after the present head was detained by police for corruption. Zhaksybek Kulekeyev is suspected of taking a bribe in the amount of US$100 000 and rumor has it that he was caught by undercover police in a sting operation.

The new akim of Astana will likely be Imangali Tasmagambetov, currently akim of Almaty and widely popular. He was also considered an enemy by Rakhat Aliyev. Some have claimed that Tasmagambetov is the most likely person to become President after Nazarbayev due to his popularity and ability.

The Minister of Agriculture, Akhmetzhan Yessimov, will likely be appointed akim of Almaty. It is still not clear who would become Minister of Agriculture.

In an attempt to improve the image of Kazakhstan, the akim is finishing up building a model of Astana on Google Earth! Surely they have better things to do with their time.

However a group of developers who claim to be independent, are working on Second-Life Astana, a model of Astana on the popular website Second Life. I find it hard to believe that they are proceeding or will proceed without any comment or input from the powers that be. After all, if I were to make a virtual Astana from my point of view, it would not necessarily be the most pleasant place to live. So I can’t see these guys being left unsupervised.

Anyway, check out the developers website here

According to the nomad.su the car of the Russian ambassador to Kazakhstan was shot at in Astana on the 7th of February from the balcony of an apartment building near the Russian Embassy. According to the story (originally broadcast on Channel 31 ) four 15-year olds are under suspicion. The teenagers and their parents claim that the kids were playing around and had no intention of shooting the Embassy or the car. In the nomad.su story, the teenagers claim they were under physical and psychological duress, though it isn’t clear by whom or for what reason. Obviously the authorities are afraid that this can cause a “diplomatic scandal” between Kazakhstan and Russia. The car was damaged, but Ambassador Bocharnikov appears to be unhurt. The Ambassador has made no statement regarding the incident.

Just noticed on Chriss Merriman’s site that he has a new page up where you can find some of his posts on life in Kazakhstan, and links to some other sources of basic information about the country. Check out if you want to get an idea of what life is like from the point of view of an expat.

You can also check out Chris’ posts tagged with Kazakhstan. And if you want my humble opinion, check out my posts tagged with life in KZ for more on what it’s really like to live in Astana.

Happy Subbotnik

Why is this Saturday not like other Saturdays? A subbotnik, derived from the Russian word for Saturday, is a day when all workers clean up their office, when students and teachers clean the school grounds, when community members sweep the yards around their houses, when everyone pitches in to make the town a little bit cleaner. It’s like a giant communal spring-cleaning.

While I’ve noticed this sort of behavior before, this is the first year I saw such a mass effort on one specific day. Even as I walked to work today at 10am, I saw students at the nearby university being given brooms and heading out to different parts of campus to sweep away dirt and liter. Workers at the construction site nearby are also busily sweeping away and hauling spare parts over to the dumpsters.

It’s a neat idea, especially as it is entirely democratic. The teachers and the students work together, do the same manual labor. I was assured by one acquaintance that even Ministers have been known
to spend the day filing their own papers, straightening and polishing their desks. This is not abuse of power to get free slave labor from underlings; this is community spirit in action. Of course I may only be being so optimistic because I have other work today, and can’t join my fellow residents in sweeping our litter-filled yard.

Even so Happy Spring Cleaning Day everyone! And may people learn by their efforts to not litter in the first place and make their community dirty at all.

I went to get my haircut this weekend at, I might note, a fairly expensive (but conveniently located) salon. There was a sign on the door that said

“Veterans of the Great Patriotic War will get free haircuts,
and pensioners get discounted haircuts
on Tuesday and Thursday from 10am – 2pm”

We asked about this and the salon workers told us that the akimat dreamed this up. The salon claims that staff of the akimat came to every salon in Astana and told them participate in the program or they could be shut down or audited for taxes.

Obviously this led to some ill will on the part of the salons. They said the program was incredibly stupid because if they are forced to give free or cheap haircuts, they aren’t going to take the time to do a great job. Further, they claim that almost no one showed up for the free haircut, and people are showing up outside the designated hours and demanding their free haircuts, threatening to complain to the akimat, etc. etc. They also say that some percentage of their clientele are pensioners or veterans who have the cash for a good haircut, manicure, pedicure, etc, and these people will now come when it’s free. Finally, the fact is that there are salons whose business is serving older people, with low-priced decent haircuts, and these places will likely go out of business.

Overall, if everything we were told is true (and I have no way of verifying this), it seems like a step backwards. Instead of giving pensioners more money, they give them free, low-quality services. Instead of trying to generate voluntary, good-will inspired altruism and community, they force businesses to participate in programs that will hurt them. One can’t help but wonder if pensioners really need haircuts and a savings of a whole 300-800 tenge a month! Did someone in the akimat see a group of old people with bad hairstyles and think, “How inappropriate for our beautiful new capital that there should be ugly people in it?” Or perhaps someone’s grandfather is a veteran with fast-growing hair?