Tajikistan: Enforced Austerity Sweeps Nation

The high peaks of Gorno-Badakhshan constitute the definition of remote. Yet, nothing is so remote or obscure these days in Tajikistan that it is beyond the reach of President Imomali Rahmon.

In the mountainous region, a two-day drive from Dushanbe, radio stations can be hard to pick up. But just outside the village of Ishkhashim, a signal comes in loud and clear. Tajik pop plays for a brief interlude, then comes a blast of martial music marking the opening of perhaps the most talked about broadcast in Tajikistan these days.

"These are the New Rules," the announcer intones dramatically, synthesized newscast music punctuating the end of each sentence. All across the country, even here, Tajiks are tuning in and straining to hear the latest diktats in President Rahmon's austerity campaign.

This particular broadcast rails against a traditional pastime – buzkashi – a contest in which two sides on horseback struggle to carry a goat carcass across a goal line. "A buzkashi horse can easily cost 50,000 somoni ($15,000)," notes the broadcaster. In recent years, the Tajik government has sponsored large buzkashi contests, normally coinciding with the Novruz holiday. This practice, according to Rahmon's newest New Rule, is about to end. "The government can no longer countenance spending as much as 1,000,000 somoni (about $300,000) on this expensive sport," he says. Buzkashi matches may continue to be put on by private sponsors, but "in a limited, less expensive form that recognizes the importance of saving money."

And so it goes in Tajikistan. Of late, President Rahmon has seemed more like a killjoy than a statesman, devoting a tremendous amount of time and energy to micro-managing daily life.

Since late March, Rahmon has attempted to impose a cultural makeover on his nation. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. He has orchestrated the adoption of regulations that govern how Tajiks can dress, how they can relax, even how they should mourn.

His focus of late has been on curbing "extravagant expenses" with the stated aim of poverty reduction and the promotion of "progress, prosperity, and the prestige of the nation." Gold fillings, common throughout ex-Soviet Central Asia, have accordingly been prohibited as ostentatious.

He has also targeted traditional ceremonies, including weddings, funerals and circumcisions. On May 24, Rahmon commented on a newly adopted law – titled On Squaring Traditions and Rites – that imposes strict limitations on the scope and expenses allowed for ceremonies concerning life and death. The Asia Plus weekly recently published extracts of the new law. Article 8, for example, states that Tajik citizens can celebrate their birthdays only within their families, adding that any festivities must occur between the hours of 10 am and 11 pm on weekends, or from 6 pm to 11 pm on weekdays. It concludes by mandating that birthday celebrations last no more than three hours.

In justifying the measures, the president complained that spending on weddings, funerals and other events had gotten out of hand, and insisted that austerity was necessary. "Each year, citizens of our small country spend [almost $1.5 billion] on weddings and funerals, whereas the whole national budget is only [about $1 billion," Rahmon claimed. "Taking the oath [at my inauguration], I promised that in the next five years the living standard of the Tajik people will change fundamentally. And I will do this. The [adoption of the] law in question is just a first step."

Some foreign experts suggest the president may be relying on very creative accounting to come up with spending and budget totals. "There is an obvious confusion in the figures," said a Tajik-based foreign consultant. "According to the Tajik Finance Ministry, Tajikistan's annual budget in 2006 amounted only to $400 million. And who invented the formula to calculate the expenditures on private festivities?"

One Tajik academic was incredulous over the timing and motivation for the lifestyle changes. "I can't fathom why only now the president is taking