Kazakhstan: Officials in Astana Strive to Conquer "Blogostan"

Kazakhstan's government is striving to win the hearts and minds of "Blogostan." Prime Minister Karim Masimov now maintains a heavily trafficked blog that provides insight into the thinking of top officials in Astana. Some observers say that Masimov is skillfully deflecting criticism of his government by appearing to embrace some of his critics.

Masimov's blog, which can be found at http://primeminister.government.kz, has already attracted thousands of comments, many of them critical of the government's performance in handling the country's economic crisis. Masimov has kept up a lively exchange with critics, pursuing a sophisticated strategy of gaining credibility for openness while ignoring some pointed queries, and selectively responding to others . . . and then letting loyalists mount aggressive counter-attacks.

The prime minister had ordered all ministers to set up blogs and answer questions, harnessing the system as a tool to keep subordinates in line by invoking the public's scrutiny.

Internet analyst Svetlana Gladkova says on profy.com that Kazakhstan is following the example of Russia, where President Dmitry Medvedev has a video blog with comments open. Gladkova suspects that Kazakhstan's Internet forum will involve lots of work for the staff of ministers who do not type. Still, she says, at least some government officials are "ready to rely on their blogs to better understand what the people in their countries want."

"Blogostan," as some readers have dubbed the virtual town hall on Kazakhstan's web, does not depart too far from the strict rules of public discourse. Masimov appears to be deftly using his blog to promote his choice causes, selecting only a few of the thousands of comments for response or replay in his weekly videocast. Among the urgent issues repeatedly raised by concerned readers was Kazakhstan's blocking of Live Journal, a popular blogging site. Masimov did not reply, and later, when the Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy pressed him on the point in an interview, Masimov claimed he himself could access the site.

Masimov, 44, has a Ph.D. in economics with degrees in languages and law. He is somewhat of a linguist -- fluent in Kazakh and Russian, and conversant in English, Chinese, and Arabic. He posts in both Kazakh and Russian, and comments also appear in both languages. The comments, which are allowed to stand if they do not violate the prime minister's rule against "insulting the site owners and other readers," provide a peek into the concerns of people in Kazakhstan. Top issues for discussion include the devaluation of the Kazakhstani currency, the tenge, the current economic crisis more broadly, and the persistent problem of official corruption. A considerable number of readers have also voiced opinions on the status of the Kazakh language, with some Kazakh speakers expressing resentment at the urging of Russian readers of the blog to make Russian "the lingua franca."

"Why are you silent about the devaluation [of Kazakhstan's currency]?" asked one blog poster who, like most posters, used a nickname rather than his real name. The poster went on to complain that his apartment mortgage had now increased by 25 percent. "You've completely stripped the population bare," he said of the government's currency redenomination. "I consider it a correct and necessary step," said another user. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Within weeks of opening the blog in early January, Prime Minister Masimov was taking the questions about chronic issues, such as the non-payment of wages or poor construction, and re-routing them directly to his subordinates. It appeared that this technique was designed to galvanize mid-level bureaucrats into taking action to address persistent problems. A videotaped conference call with provincial leaders posted to the prime minister's blog shows him scolding officials in Astana and Zhambul provinces, leaving them to protest that the blog comment charges were based on "non-objective information" or to stutter in protest until Masimov silenced them with a command to "inform me, don't go on reporting." Masimov even personally visited public baths in Astana that blog posters said had fallen into disrepair. "Get ready, I'm coming to visit with the akim, tell him. Let him take a look himself," Masimov thundered.

Emboldened by the prime minister's experiment in openness, Respublika-Delovoye Obozreniye, a Russian-language business newspaper, immediately sent an open protest to Masimov, complaining of what it claimed was government-inspired pressure on its typographers. On February 4, Masimov blandly re-printed their appeal and offered his blog space to publish their next issue.

In another ministerial blog entry, a bitingly critical editorial was reprinted from geotv.kz, an upstart station blocked by Kazakhtelecom, referring to ministers as "corrupt" and "opportunists." So startling was the essay that one analyst, author of Kazakhstantskiy blog ob IT, believed the government site had been hacked. To date, the piece remains on the site, attracting 89 posters, many of whom have been unimpressed with the article, asking for documentation of the television station's allegations of corruption and characterizing the reporters as "unethical."

Leaving the editorial up to face a barrage of criticism may have been a brilliant PR move, said one reader. Like other PR masters before him, the Kazakhstani prime minister has found that a good way to diffuse criticism is in fact to allow it to appear -- and disappear in a sea of blogs and comments, eventually to be pushed below the fold of attention -- possibly with some help from government officials who can themselves appear with anonymous posts.

The prime minister's blogging experiment and relative leniency toward offending comments is sharply contrasted with the treatment of some journalists who enjoy a potentially wider audience.

On January 6, for example, authorities arrested Ramazan Yesergepov, editor of the weekly Alma-Ata Info, while he was undergoing hospital treatment, charging him with disclosure of official secrets after publishing an article critical of actions taken by authorities in a company's tax evasion case. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist protested the beating of another opposition journalist in February, Bakhytzhan Nurpeisov, who suffered a broken cheekbone and whose notebook, camera, and tape recorder were seized, but whose wallet and phone were left untouched. Nurpeisov's publication, Obshchestvennaya Pozitsiya [Public Position], had run several critical articles contrasting deteriorating economic conditions with official luxuries, such as Astana Mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov's lavish rare car collection. Yermek Boltai, a reporter for the website of the Kazakh service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio liberty, was also attacked by unidentified assailants in January.