CIS

Tax Police Feels Itself the Master of Businessmen

Aidar AKHMETOV

ALMATY, Feb 21 (THE GLOBE)

An official spokesman of the Forum of Kazakhstani Businessmen announced that from February 28 to March 4, 2000 they planed to hold the event �Functionary and Businessman� in Almaty and the Almaty oblast. The General Office of Public Prosecutor organized the event.

Kazakhstani businessmen have been trying to limit innumerous examinations by state bodies for some years. The Almaty Association of Businessmen agrees that such examinations are necessary, but they are to be a real supervising mechanism. In the U.S.A. enterprises work for a long without any checks by state bodies. But every businessman knows that if he infringes the law, the authorities will response immediately.

Representatives of the Almaty Association said about businessmen�s numerous complaints concerning illegal actions by the supervising organizations. Tax police is often claimed to. Often tax policemen treat businessmen as criminals and feel themselves irresponsible.

The objective of the event is to check supervising organizations, to receipt claims and proposals and to check normative documentation.


Love by Americans,

Or a story of schoolchildren�s letter to Bill Clinton

Kuanysh

ZHUMANGAZINOV

ALMATY, Feb 21

(THE GLOBE)

In August 1998 Aizhan Mamyrbaeva was one of schoolchildren who went to the U.S.A. according to the program �Youth for Mutual Understanding�.

That time in the U.S.A. the scandal concerning Monica Levinsky�s case against President Bill Clinton. A short story by a Kazakhstani schoolgirl narrates how Americans treated this scandal and private aspect of President�s life and how they discussed it.

It is interesting that estimating their President�s life Americans divided into two groups: dark-skinned who supported Clinton and white men,, who seriously criticized his former infatuations.

Aizhan says that people discussed this topic everywhere. Children from Southeast Raleigh High School (North Carolina), where Aizhan studied, also actively discussed it. Almost every class held discussions between supporters and opponents of the �Levinsky-Clinton� case. The school administration encouraged these discussions. They even advised to write letters to the President.

But only few people supported Clinton during �months difficult for both him and his family� (from B. Clinton�s letter). Aizhan was the only in her school who wrote a letter to the U.S. President to support him. She says that she wrote the letter as she understood Clinton.

An American family, where Aizhan lived a half of a year, as well as many other Americans condemned Clinton. In Aizhan�s opinion, the reputation of the leader was mainly undermined, when he lied under oath.

When she wrote the letter, Aizhan did not expect that she would receive an answer soon. But when she came back to Kazakhstan, her American family sent her an answer by Bill Clinton dated April 5, 1999.

Though the letter is of a �pattern� character (�you are the future of our country�), Aizhan was pleased to receive the answer to her letter, moreover, by the U.S. President.

In this story attention paid to the country�s people impresses. Along with U.S. many achievements, Kazakhstan should have adopted attitude to its citizens.


Radio Liberty

People�s Resentment Growing

A wave of unsanctioned meetings and demonstrations held on January 30 in 8 towns again caused the opposition between the population tired of property and the authorities. This proved once again that they will not be able to compromise soon. Some demonstrators arrested, some of them had to pay penalties, other were cited. But these people are not passive, taking a chance they disclose different illegal acts by the authorities. For example, in Taraz demonstrators were against of the President�s decision to name this year �The Year of Culture�. They demand Nazarbaev to call 2000 �The Year of Law�. In their opinion, illegality has reached the critical point and human rights are being violated everywhere in Kazakhstan. They characterized law-enforcement organizations as illegal, as instead to protect rights they often infringe them.

Hence, first of all the President should fight for legality, they say, calling compatriots to struggle for their Constitutional rights. This call was spread all over the country. In Almaty demonstrators who came to the Republican Square on January 30, headed by Madel Ismailov, are also blamed for illegal activity. That day the police arrested a RPPK activist Nurlan Bakirlanov, who was also invited to the court. Without any trial the court made him to pay a penalty of 4,400 tenge. The police summoned other demonstrators � Plohotskaya, Gugueva and Ismailov to the court and now they tried to accuse these people. Most demonstrators are pensioners. In other countries pensioners receive a good pension and live calmly, bringing up their grandchildren. In Kazakhstan pensioners have become one of the most active political forces. Pensioners participate in all meetings and demonstrations. They are so active because of low pensions, abandoned social privileges, difficult life and illegality. As a rule, they are one of the most socially vulnerable strata of the population. Hence, even in winter they have to protest in the streets.

In fact, at present any pensioner�s life is difficult. Among them there are people who once was titled the Hero. These people also dissatisfied with both their life and the situation in the country. One of them is the hero of the story Boshtaidyn ush karasy by Gabit Musrepov, Boshtai Kitapbaev, who once was, the chairman of the collective farm and whom the Soviet authorities titled the Hero of Social Labor. He was not appreciated due to his work in the collective farm. First of all, he became famous, because worshiping national traditions, he did a lot to restore one of the Kazakh arts � horse-breeding. Gabit Musrepov managed to see Boshtai�s feature and acquainted Kazakhstani readers with the character. Now Bosheken does not appeal to the Kazakhstani President, but to the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Richard Jones. He had to do this, as he wrote many letters to the President, but received no answer. Why did he appeal to the U.S. Ambassador? �During the World War II, the U.S.A. and former Soviet countries were allies,� Boshtai says.

The difficult problem made him appeal. The Orthopedic Plant does not work in Almaty. Veterans who lost their arms or legs in the war, cannot either repair their old artificial limbs or order new ones. Boshtai Kitapbaev has the only leg, he is a first-group invalid. Hence he asked the U.S. embassy to settle the problem.

�The U.S. former President Bush participated in the war, that is why I think the U.S. government will understand and help them to find investments to restore the Orthopedic Plant,� Boshtai hopes. Thus, the despaired man did not ask his government to help, but the embassy of the other state. This letter was published in the last issue of SolDat newspaper. In this case, we ask: can we consider actions by pensioners who tired of the difficult life and participated in meetings, illegal?

15.02.2000

THE GLOBE based on materials from the Kazakh Service of Radio Liberty

(Translated from Kazakh by THE GLOBE, full text)


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