EURASIA NEWS

Turkmenistan President-for-Life and early candidate for TUPNews Man of the Year Saparmurat Niyazov - aka Turkmenbashi the Great - has ordered a ban on lip synching performances across the Eurasian nation, citing "a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art."

"Unfortunately, one can see on television old voiceless singers lip-synching their old songs," Niyazov told a Cabinet meeting in comments broadcast on state TV on Tuesday. "Don't kill talents by using lip synching... Create our new culture."

Under Niyazov's order, lip synching is now prohibited at all cultural events, concerts, on television — and at private celebrations such as weddings.

Like fellow dictator Kim Il Sung, Niyazov is regarded as a “bit of a character” by the world community (and humans rights groups). Previous things he has banned include long hair, beards, gold teeth, ballet and opera.

He also announced two decrees, the first of which stated that television presenters were banned from wearing make-up as the President had difficulty telling male and female newsreaders apart. The second declared that the chewing of tobacco on Turkmen territory was to be outlawed (because Niyazov had to give up smoking after a successful anti-cancer operation).

His face appears on all Manat banknotes as well as on local brands of vodka, tea and other commodities. Turkmen TV superimposes a golden profile of him over its programs, and large portraits of the President hang all over the country, especially on major public buildings and avenues, and statues of himself and his mother are scattered all over Turkmenistan. The statues include one in the centre of capital Ashgabat towering above the Arch of Neutrality (neutrality being the centerpiece of Turkmenbashy's simplistic foreign policy): a golden statue of the great leader with outstretched arms that always catch the sun as the likeness rotates 360 degrees in a 24-hour period.

"I'm personally against seeing my pictures and statues in the streets - but it's what the people want", Niyazov has said.

He has renamed the month of January after himself, and the month of April after his mother.

Last year, he ordered that a giant ice palace be constructed in the middle of the desert country, although many observers have said that without some form of technical assistance it will be an impossible dream. “Let us build a palace of ice so our children can learn to ice skate,' Niyazov said, 'big and grand enough for 1,000 people.”

additional reporting: AP, wikipedia