Unprecedented mass protests, spurred on by populist apprehension over Chinese encroachment, force Nursultan Nazarbayev to pull back on plans to privatize government farmland
Nazarbayev criticized the government for failing to explain the reform to the public adequately. Economy Minister Yerbolat Dosayev tendered his resignation the same day, a spokeswoman for the ministry said.
The protests were sparked by fears that reforms will allow foreigners - especially Chinese companies - to take over farmland, although some analysts say many Kazakhs have attended the demonstrations to express their general discontent.
The rallies which have taken place in several major cities over the last two weeks were relatively small. But even hundreds-strong protests are rare in the former Soviet republic which Nazarbayev tightly controls.
Although President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s initial reaction was to point to unnamed provocateurs for stirring up trouble, he seems to have changed his tune, putting a moratorium on the implementation of the land code changes until 2017 and pushing his economy minister, Yerbolat Dosayev, out the door. Dosayev was certainly scapegoated, but Astana walking back on the issue and accepting the reality of public frustration is significant.
According to Reuters, Nazarbayev said Thursday, “If our people do not understand and trust the decisions that have been taken, then it is not right (to press ahead with them).” The government, Nazarbayev said, failed to explain the land code changes. In a video posted to the president’s press service Facebook page, Nazarbayev candidly addressed the issue and directed his government to form a commission to address public concerns about the changes.
The issue of selling land to foreigners became the focal point of protests, but transparency and corruption were also issues very near the heart of public anger. Astana bungled explaining a policy regarding a sensitive issue to the Kazakh people and has long neglected the role the public should play in crafting policy.
The crucial question now is whether the moratorium will deal a definitive blow to the momentum of a protest movement that had threatened to evolve and encompass broader discontent about the government’s performance. Success in getting the authorities to reconsider its policies could potentially embolden a public that has been hit hard by the economic downturn of the past year and that has until now grumbled mostly privately about the punishing levels of corruption in the country.
By blaming the people for not understanding laws, Nazarbayev is hardly going to do much to soothe frayed tempers.
But if some lessons have been learned, it is more likely that others have not.There is something paradoxical about seeing Nazarbayev refer to an issue being important and high-profile on the same state media that has signally ignored the recent wave of protests. In the rare instances when the rallies have been mentioned in state media, it has been to imply that they were being instigated by a foreign government.
It's worth noting that this comes on the tail of Australia moving up their decision to deny the Kidman land sale to a group of mostly Chinese investors after originally putting it off until after the Federal election. One wonders whether or not Beijing will conflate these moves with threats to food security.
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