Kazakhstan unrest a surprise but understandable, father hopes son and his family remains safe
Family of Malaysians in Kazakhstan are surprised by the unrest, describing Almaty as a welcoming and friendly city.
Anwar Mohd Ali, 75, said he did not expect to see a rebellion of such nature and was concerned about the situation as his son is there.
“We are quite concerned about the situation because our son and his family are in Almaty, the centre of the rioting.
“During our initial contact through WhatsApp, we noted how difficult it was to communicate.
“After that, we only managed to communicate via email,” he told Sinar Daily.
He said that was before the Kazakhstan government cut the internet and mobile access on Wednesday.
Anwar said he managed to advise his son on what should be done amidst the chaos, which was to stay put and not go out.
He reminded his son to wait for instructions from the Malaysian Embassy there and keep themselves updated if there were any exit plans for Malaysian citizens to return home.
“Since there are riots everywhere, banks and shops would be closed thus I told him that the first thing he needed apart from basic food essentials was to have as much cash as possible for emergency situations.
“We are also trying to figure out if we can help in any way through friends and any organisations that can help if conditions persist,” he said.
Anwar said at least 30 per cent of Kazakhs earn less than $200USD monthly and when the price of fuel and goods doubled, clearly it would affect their livelihoods significantly.
The anger of its people, he said, was understandable as their Kazakh leaders lived a wealthy life in comparison to the masses.
“The good thing about our son being in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, is the fact that we can least get updates of the situation consistently compared to those in the outskirts,” he said, adding that the embassy was also located in Nur-sultan.
Anwar said his daughter-in-law managed to communicate with her mother on Saturday, informing them that they were safe, adding that the embassy continued to check up on Malaysians in Kazakhstan.
“On Thursday, my son managed to get through on the phone line, although it wasn’t clear, we could still make out what we were saying. We pray for the best for everyone,” he, who is the former Commerce and Industry Ministry assistant director in the Industries Division, said.
Anwar’s daughter, Zafira, 34, shared the same sentiments of Kazakhstan, describing the people as hospitable and welcoming.
The former journalist who had visited the Central Asian country twice said she was still in disbelief that a protest of this scale could occur near to where her brother and his family lived.
While recognising the right to peaceful demonstration, Zafira said she sided with United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, saying that protesters should not resort to violence against others.
“There are a lot of underlying issues that have aggravated the Kazakhs to take it to the street.
“Poverty, corruption and unemployment exacerbated by the pandemic have also led to the unrest in not just Kazakhstan but also in some other parts of the world. The liquefied petroleum gas price hike was just the final blow for the Kazakh," she said.
Zafira, who holds a master’s degree in Media and Information Warfare, said inaction by the Kazakh government could cause a spillover effect to neighbouring countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, who are also increasingly vulnerable to breakdown.
Fearing that the uprising could potentially turn into Central Asia’s “Arab Spring”, Zafira hoped that the Kazakh government and Kazakhs could adopt the wasatiyyah or moderation approach to find the middle ground for peaceful dialogues.
