The greatest myth and danger to our country

To my firm conviction the greatest danger to the future of Kyrgyzstan lies in the next president—the sixth to hold the office—who will succeed Sadyr Japarov.
Let me explain why.

The fact is that none of our five previous leaders have managed to solve the problem of corruption. Consequently, the actual standard of living for the citizens of Kyrgyzstan is rising very slowly, if at all. This persists because the authorities have failed to establish proper order within the customs service, the hydropower sector, the mining industry, and other key sectors of the economy.

As an energy expert, I know for a fact that the Toktogul Hydropower Plant alone—if order were restored regarding the management and consumption of water and electricity—could provide every family in the country with an income of $200 per month. And this figure could be significantly higher if one were to include the fees paid by neighboring countries for the use of water from the Naryn River—even at the lowest possible rates.

Our country suffers even greater economic losses due to the woefully inefficient oversight at customs.
According to data from the Chinese side, goods worth tens of billions of dollars pass through Kyrgyz customs annually; however, these figures are drastically understated by both our own and Russian customs officials to conceal the true revenue from the public.
If strict control were implemented over the funds generated by customs duties, the average salary could be increased by at least another $200.

Now, let us turn our attention to our mineral resources and subsoil wealth.

The Jetim-Too iron ore deposit in the Naryn region is one of the largest in the world. Its economic potential is nearly 20 times greater than the original potential of the Kumtor mine, which contained 1,000 tons of gold.
Beneath our feet lies a treasure trove worth 100 billion dollars(!) Just think about those figures.
And there are sites like Jetim-Too in almost every region of Kyrgyzstan.

In theory, any new president could, in a very short time, raise the average salary in Kyrgyzstan to near-European levels—around 1,000 dollars.
But this does not happen, precisely because of massive corruption, poor organization, and the irresponsibility of those in power.

The claim that Kyrgyzstan is a poor, resource-deprived country is the greatest myth of all—a narrative concocted by corrupt officials to cover their tracks and continue quietly plundering one of the most resource-rich and high-potential nations in the world.

Yet, the president who finally manages to do this—to defeat corruption—would pose the greatest danger to Kyrgyzstan’s future. If social benefits were raised to European standards, and the salaries of teachers, nurses, police officers, and social workers reached 1,000–2,000 dollars a month, such a president would undoubtedly become deeply adored and beloved by the people. He would emerge as a figure akin to a new Turkmenbashi, Nazarbayev, or Pinochet—leaders who succeeded in raising living standards, but only by tightening the screws, establishing a dictatorship, and eliminating many of their rivals.

Even the globally celebrated Lee Kuan Yew and his Singapore were not exempt from this pattern. Despite its extremely high standard of living, Singapore remains a one-party state—effectively a dictatorial regime—where power stays in the hands of Lee Kuan Yew’s successors. This rigid system poses a danger to the country’s future. It is no surprise that dictators and authoritarian leaders around the world are so fond of quoting a remark attributed to Lee Kuan Yew: that the principles of democracy only begin to function once a country’s average salary reaches $5,000. If this were true, democracy would never have been established in Europe or elsewhere.
The same applies to modern China: its development and prosperity only serve to strengthen a one-man regime, undermining the Chinese people’s ability to determine their own destiny and ensure their own security. Dictatorship is always a negative, and it almost invariably ends badly for both the country and its people.

In Kyrgyzstan, it would only take the rise of an honest individual—someone with a firm moral core and an unyielding desire to eradicate corruption—for the situation in the country to change radically; such a leader’s authority might well ascend to near-divine status. Perhaps it is not entirely a bad thing that our leaders are so preoccupied with personal enrichment—striving at any cost to become dollar billionaires. It would be far worse if, upon coming to power, they sought to attain the status of "sainted" presidents or supreme leaders and did everything in their capacity to achieve that end.