Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov might be a longtime Twitter user, but that doesn't necessarily make him social-media savvy.
The official recently used his two Twitter accounts -- in English, and in Kazakh and Russian -- to put the call out for his thousands of followers to list their nation's biggest achievements in its 25 years of independence.
The apparent idea was to use the hashtags #25летНезависимости or #25KAZ to collect positive feedback ahead of Kazakh Independence Day, which is celebrated on December 16.
Masimov got a bit more than he bargained for from the Twitter masses, however.
The hashtags prompted a barrage of tweets revealing latent anger over corruption, the state of Kazakh democracy, the police, and the government in general.
"To deliver a healthy baby you have to pay a bribe in the maternity ward, to get a place in a kindergarten -- pay bribes again. At school? Guess what," tweeted Kairat Nyrmugambetov at @iKairat, referring to allegations of widespread bribery in schools and hospitals.
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"A new factory for light-engine planes was built in Karaganda that hasn't produced a single plane in five years," wrote @AlmiriKarpykov from Almaty:
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Another popular response to Masimov's initiative suggested that Kazakhstan -- whose president, Nursultan Nazarbaev, has ruled the country since 1989 -- has never had a democratic presidential election.
"We've never had a chance to elect another president!" wrote Aidos kapanov at @aidoseg from Almaty.
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"We fear police more than bandits and terrorists," tweeted M. Gustav at @kasymjanym:
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Twitter user @parfume_kz took the opportunity to complain that "free breakfast has been canceled for schoolchildren."
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"In Kazakhstan, the government has created crony socialism, whose source of existence is legalized robbery, not collective labor," wrote @sakesha.
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The initiative has generated some positive tweets, of course, although many are from the state-controlled @kazinformkz news agency and Kazakh embassies abroad.
And @kazinformkz hijacked the hashtags to highlight Kazakh athletes' achievements at the Olympic Games in Rio and to report domestic news, including Masimov's trip to an Almaty dairy farm:
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-- Farangis Najibullah
