Ex-Minister of Investments and the current head of the public commission for studying the causes and conditions of the plane crash in Dachi SU village Almambet Shykmamatov, after a short break, returned to big politics and told 24.kg news agency about the main task of the commission members in its work, the window of opportunities and features of Kyrgyz democracy.
— Almambet Nasyrkanovich, why has the president decided to create a public commission to investigate the causes of the plane crash in Dachi SU now?
— The head of state clearly enough justified the need to create such a commission. Yes, a lot of time has passed, but the questions remain. Just think about it, five years have passed since the tragedy, and the cause-and-effect links of the tragedy have still not been established. The public still has many unanswered questions.
In general, our society has several unclosed gestalts, to use the terminology of psychologists. The plane crash in Dacha SU village is one of them.
— Do you think that the results of the commission’s work will give answers to all the questions? Our society is mistrustful. There will still be those who will be dissatisfied with the result.
— Look at the composition of the commission. The seemingly incompatible things are combined there. For example, Ali Toktakunov and Elnura Alkanova are next to each other. Quite recently they were on opposite sides of the barricades. Well-known human rights activists, civil activists, lawyers, investigative journalists. Each of them is trusted by some part of society, and altogether it should turn out that the majority will accept the commission’s conclusions. The puzzle must fit. In general, I think that the composition of the commission is optimal. Although, I agree, of course, there will be discontent. Nihilism is, unfortunately, a hallmark of our society.
— This is true. For example, supporters of Almazbek Atambayev already say that the commission to investigate what happened in Dachi SU was created only to «pin more criminal cases» on the former president...
— Look, these are ridiculous claims. I think that Atambayev should be more interested than anyone else in the creation and objective work of such a commission. It will put an end to this resonant case.
But I want to talk about something else. You see, this commission, its mission is more than answering specific questions.
I think we have to think about the philosophy of corruption. Because, of course, the tragedy in Dacha SU is, first of all, about corruption.
Corruption at customs, corruption of officials who allowed people to live permanently in an unsuitable place, and so on and so forth. Corruption in Kyrgyzstan has always had a strong ideological basis. Unpretentious mottos «take everything from life», the well-known Chyngyshev’s words «only lazy and fools don’t steal in Kyrgyzstan», «even a deluge after me» " — these all has been the basis of ideology of large-scale corruption for a long time. They have created the whole caste of untouchables, who were shocked when they were pulled out, like carrots from a garden bed, and were forced to return the stolen money.
Besides, our commission is certainly a precedent. There have been many public commissions in recent Kyrgyz history on a variety of topics. Most often, let’s face it, they were created to legalize the authorities’ point of view on the subject under investigation. The core of such commissions has always consisted of «insiders», with the occasional «statistical error» in the form of a couple of opposition figures.
Now look at the list of our commission. Do you think that with such a list it will be possible to push through a decision, sent down from the Presidential Administration? I am sure that no official will even dare try to push something through.
— So, the government has decided to play the game of democracy?
— Well, why just play? It is impossible to strangle democracy in Kyrgyzstan. Whichever way you look, we are a country with a strong democratic tradition. Yes, we are experimenting with institutions and instruments of democracy. Yes, sometimes there is a feeling that we have a weak state and that our democracy is turning into ochlocracy. But, by and large, we are one of the few post-Soviet countries, where real elections are held. Where the people really do decide and literally make the authorities hear themselves.
We have a strong civil society and a free Internet. Every politician, political, and civic activist is a blogger himself, if he wants to, of course. Nothing can be concealed. Everything immediately becomes the property of social networks and media, is discussed by society and forces the authorities to react.
We are not a facade democracy. I like the fact that we don’t stupidly adopt someone else’s experience and use generally accepted political terminology, calling it something that is very far from the content of democracy.
Almambet Shykmamatov
We are looking for our own way. Mistakes, miscalculations and kinks are inevitable along the way. But we move, grow, mature, and, of course, destroy, but not in a negative sense. Because sometimes, in order to build something new, you don’t have to make cosmetic repairs, but you need to literally demolish the building.
You know, I read a lot about Mikhail Saakashvili’s reforms in Georgia. I like him. He was a strong politician and in his time he managed to put together a unique team. Of course, Kakha Bendukidze was a star of it, an extraordinary smart guy, who unfortunately died very early. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of his quote, but he used to say that in order for something to grow, it should grow by itself.
You can’t take a piece of wood and cut a tree with leaves out of it — it will be dead. The tree needs to grow on its own. He spoke about Georgian society.
Our Kyrgyz tree has already been planted, too. It is still very young, with thin branches. However, the roots are already firmly in the ground and the trunk is strong. I mean the Kyrgyz society.
— The image is good, but society wants to know where we are going, where the country is going. After all, there is still no clear reform plan. At least it has not been presented to the public.
— This is already a problem of systemic professional PR. But in fact, a lot has been done, and is being done. Kumtor was returned to the state. Do you remember how much skepticism there was? The Canadians will sue us, the pessimists said. Every revolution in Kyrgyzstan put forward demands for Kumtor. But only after a few decades, Kumtor is again ours.
This is a time of tectonic geopolitical transformation. The world is changing rapidly before our eyes. Not only economic issues, but also the issues of security, foreign policy orientation, education, mechanisms of reproduction of elites, self-sufficiency of the state come to the foreground.
We are living, as one of the outside experts or journalists said, I do not remember exactly, literally in a history book. This transformation extends the very window of opportunities for the authorities.
These windows have appeared several times for Kyrgyzstan during the period of independence. In 2005 and 2010 and beyond. But as they appeared, they slammed shut. There is not much time for fundamental reforms. They need to be fast and to the point without any unnecessary demagogy. But it didn’t happen.
As a result, a constellation of politicians emerged who could be called politicians of missed opportunities. I do not want to mention their names. Everybody knows them anyway.
They were all at one time in the political top. Some were afraid to take responsibility; some didn’t have the courage. Others got bogged down in intrigues and squabbles. Some got into office and instead of doing productive work, they lashed out at their political opponents, or, on the contrary, became overconfident.
There are many signals, including the initiative to create our commission, that the government is aware that the window of opportunities for Kyrgyzstan cannot be open forever.
It means that there is awareness at the highest level of the importance of how, what and how much will be written about you in the very history textbook in which we are living today.
