Information is power, and in Kazakhstan the power-hungry dictator tightly controls the news. It's old news that Kazakh citizens can't get access to reliable information. There may be a break for the news-starved Kazakhs in a new, independent radio station that has been beaming its broadcasts into Kazakhstan free of any political censorship.

It's called DAT, which means "I demand a word!" in Kazakh. It is the voice of the country's democratic forces and its microphones are available to all democratic forces and independent journalists in Central Asia. Listeners can tune in between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. daily on short waves in a range of 31 m, or on the Internet in real time or recorded format.

It's good start, say opposition leaders and regime critics, but they still want the Voice of American and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to broadcast uncensored news into the country on a regular and sustained schedule to combat the regime's stifling news management. For now, the dictator's daughter controls the main broadcast outlets; independent radio and television stations have been firebombed or shut down by acts ranging from sabotage to prosecution by tax police; the Internet is heavily censored, and the opposition print media have been subjected to the full range of intimidation, from harassment and vandalism to prison and even murder. http://datradio.com/indexeng.htm

Datradio, August 16, 2002