Nazarbayev at a meeting with PM Askar Mamin. Photo from Elbasy.kz
In a written address to the nation, First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has warned the public to be on its guard against “panic-mongers” and “loudmouths”, and urged businessmen to help their compatriots through the coronavirus epidemic. The full text (in Russian) of Nazarbayev’s article “When we are united we are invincible” was published on his website today.
He called on the old to tend to the moral upbringing of the young, on the young to show ability and resolve, and on businessmen to take on a more active role in helping the country. “I address myself to members of the business community: thanks to independence you have been able to establish yourselves and become wealthy. Now the time has come for you to ask yourselves the question: what can I do for my country? Following my earlier request, businessmen are helping their fellow compatriots by providing financial and material support. I hope that these good deeds will be continued.”
Nazarbayev compared the current crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic to the hardships of the 1990s, but emphasised that things were worse back then, since Kazakhstan now has the resources to provide financial support to vulnerable groups, to businesses and to those working in agriculture.
“Today’s Kazakhstan is not the Kazakhstan of the 90s, when the Soviet Union collapsed. In order to no longer be forced to wander the international arena with outstretched hands, for the future of the country and for coming generations, many years ago we established the National Fund and began building the country’s gold reserves, in which we have today accumulated 90 billion US dollars. If we use these funds wisely and sparingly, they will allow us to stand firm through the current adversity,” the country’s first president wrote.
“We all know that in times of trouble, those who sow lies, provocations and panic redouble their efforts, exploiting the situation for their own selfish aims. I call on our people to be wary of such populist and inflammatory talk. For those who truly care about the common good demonstrate their uprightness not through noisy declamations but by concrete good deeds. Instead of acting like panic-mongers and loudmouths, it is better to work on educating oneself and others,” Nazarbayev urged.
He also argued that the current crisis demonstrated that the government had been right not to dig into these reserves on previous occasions, despite some people’s calls for this at the time. “The firmness we displayed then has proved not to be in vain,” he said.
The remainder of the speech was formed of platitudes on collective discipline and how hardship fortifies the strong. “We are a united country, a close-knit nation. I have always been on the side of the people. I will always be on your side. We are one. Not giving in to difficulties, preserving our unity and harmony. Only through this can we protect our independence and show ourselves worthy of our lofty aim: Мәңгілік ел (“the eternal nation”),” Nazarbayev concluded.
Kazakhstan has earlier announced a $10 billion programme to deal with the combined crisis issuing from last month’s steep drop in oil prices and the current coronavirus pandemic, dwarfing other Central Asian countries’ existing programmes (Uzbekistan has announced plans to borrow $1bn to fight the virus, and earlier today said that it had secured slightly more than this figure from organisations including the World Bank). This is also not the first time Nazarbayev has appealed to private donors and businesses in connection with the crisis.
The criticism of “panic-mongers” and “populist talk” can be read as a veiled attack on illegal opposition figures, such as Mukhtar Ablyazov (from exile), who have used the current crisis to launch attacks on Nazarbayev and the government.
In other recent coronavirus news from Kazakhstan, current president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said yesterday that Kazakhstan, “as a token of solidarity” and “upon request”, is ready to help neighbouring countries needing assistance to fight the coronavirus. Earlier, it was announced that Kazakh scientists at a US-funded lab in the country had succeeded in developing a reliable test system for the virus. Uzbekistan has previously dispatched medical and food aid to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.
According to the latest information on 8 April, Kazakhstan has 709 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 7 deaths.
