Karim Bakhriyev: Uzbek officials are ready to listen to praise, but take offense as a child when criticized

Uzbek officials are always ready to listen to praise, but when they are criticized by the media, they are offended like children. The poet, deputy of the first convocation of the parliament in 1990-1995 Karim Bakhriyev told about this during an interview with Repost.

“Not a single president (khan, king, monarch) in history could cope with the bureaucracy alone. The giant bureaucratic organism lives according to its internal laws. World history and practice clearly show that only civil society and its institutions - an honestly and freely elected parliament, independent courts, independent media, independent trade unions, opposition parties, and local government - can oppose the power of bureaucracy. 

That ruler, who does not allow the existence of public institutions, including independent media, makes himself a hostage to the bureaucracy and falls under their authority, which means that he is unable to protect the basic interests of the population,” he said.

Karim Bakhriyev also stated that “Uzbek officials are always ready to listen to their praise, but they are offended by the media criticism like children”. 

In his opinion, in a country where there is no civil society, where no opposing voices are heard, the slightest criticism or doubt regarding the government’s policy seems already biased, oppositional.

“In the absence of opposition, a journalist criticizing the authorities unwittingly plays the opposition role, although he probably was not going to become an oppositionist,” he concluded.