DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dariga Nazarbayeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is a growing, some would say, looming, presence on Kazakhstan’s political scene.
Sidelined in 2007 after her husband, Rakhat Aliyev, fell out with her father, she has recently staged a comeback. From January 2012, Ms Nazarbayeva has been a member of Kazakhstan’s parliament and head of various committees.
Importantly for Kazakhstan-watchers, she’s also been spoken of in some circles as a potential successor to her 73-year-old father.
And that’s why comments she made on sex education in schools and the effectiveness of orphanages generated such a heated response. Kazakh media also reported that she described disabled children as “freaks” birthed from teenagers having premature sex.
“I think that from time to time children should be taken for excursions to orphanages, to institutions for disabled children, so that they see the results of a senseless, premature sex life,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Ms Nazarbayeva as saying at a parliamentary committee.
“Show them these children, these disabled freaks, let them look at them.”
Twitter caught fire with plenty of venom directed at Ms Nazarbayeva. If Ms Nazarbayeva does have presidential ambitions she will have to learn to be more discreet.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)