As soon as Gorbachev began the reforms towards the presidential system every other leadership in the USSR saw a green light for rapid take over. His presidential strength allowed Gorbachev to transfer USSR from poorly functioning "Central Planning Economy" to completely dysfunctional "Market Economy", which resulted in catalyzing the deterioration of the Economic and Social Structures of the Soviet Union.
In addition, privatization, which was based on a belief that some state property must be distributed to the citizens free of charge, resulted in the commercialization leading to devaluation of people savings and state property by hyperinflation; The entire process of privatization was perceived as robbery.
Since, economic and social structure was managed by the government - these elements of democratization fragmented the communist party convincing the leaders of the Soviet Republics that it is safe to begin the separatist activity if it is under the umbrella of ethnicity.
Majority of the population was more concerned with reforms of the social nature then the ethnical ideology; therefore, ethnical reforms were not popular and dismissed in the urban areas.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, big part of the population was in the state of shock. (Since, nobody could predict that system will collapse so rapidly) Plus, considering that in those days, population was taught to think that official ideology was a source of stability, and optimism, and any attempt to destabilize, or introduce the element of pessimism, or doubt about the future of the state was repeatedly banned. Therefore, people were never active in questioning their authority, and the questioning was perceived as (more or less) a form of crime. Therefore, the government practically had complete control of any of the public outbursts of thoughts. Since, the population was always on a leash - the potential of explosion of the oppositional activity was always there. The government desperately needed of some fresh Believe System (BS), which is camouflaged under the code name "Ethnical Conflict". Consequently, ethnical conflict was necessary to justify independence, and national identity, or in other words, the software of the state. As a result the public finally was allowed to shout, only if it fits the political agenda.
However, more important, and the more evident reason, why the ethnical politics were emphasized in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as, in the other Soviet Republics - was mainly for Economic reasons. From the point of view of the western businessman the Cold War created a negative image for the Soviet Union, thus not attractive for the investment. The president of Kazakhstan was working hard on marketing the new image of the state; Advertising that there is nothing "Soviet" left in the Republic, and therefore, it is safe to think about investing the western capital in the economy of Kazakhstan.
Everything started when 1986 bloody riot was taking place on the streets of Almaty. People who were involved in the rioting were mainly Ethnic Kazakhs; students from Institute of Agriculture and workers form various factories. It was triggered when Kolbin was appointed by Gorbachev to be the Chairman of Supreme Soviet of the republic of Kazakhstan. People were shocked by this sudden rioting crowed. At work place or in the public areas this even was never discussed, because practically every citizen was not supportive of this conflict? Kazakhstan existed as the friendly multi ethnic society for decades and why would anyone support the "ethnic" conflict. Later, the research guided me to the archives of New York Times and ITAR-TASS. The articles which were published in 1986 indicate that that the riots were organized by Kunayev and his supporters. At that time Kunayev was corrupting the governmental structure by appointing family members in the governmental system, and this way created a network of governmental officials who manipulated different financial operation to benefit their personal interest. As a result, Kolbin was assigned to replace Kunayev and deal with corruption. Presumably those students were rioting for the national identity, but what is "National" in the ethnically mixed country? In case of Kazakhstan it was the Kazakh identity which was "National", while all the other nations who were living and working side by side with Kazakhs, under the same Soviet roof, were simply outcome of Soviet era.
Later, in June 21 1989, the same group of people organized another riot, which was suppressed by soldiers. The same formula reoccurred in the neighboring countries (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). Moscow perceived it as a possible threat for a peaceful population in this region, and labeled it as primarily separatist movement. Few days after the riot of 1989 the leadership of the Republic of Kazakhstan was altered to create a safer ethnic state, and Nazarbayev was elected to be the First Secretary of the republican Communist Party's Central Committee (or president).
Unfolding challenges that the Soviet Union was facing in 1989-1990 such as, withdrawal from Afghanistan, fall of the Berlin Wall, release of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics in the Central Asia, and other issues which challenged the Soviet Ideology; political rumpus led to the farther demands for independence by the leaders of the Soviet Republics. And on December 21, 1991 a summit meeting of the Soviet Union in Alma-Ata (Currently Almaty) gave birth to Alma-Ata Declaration, which credited all eleven republics as cofounders.
Since Presidential system allowed the president to appoint local governments, conduct economic policy, and formulate foreign policy, Moscow, evaporated from the consciousness of every governmental employee. 'Privatization' in the early 90's, with rejection of market value of a property influenced a massive doze of corruption in the ruling elite. Considering that there are local professionals who can do the job, ruling elite who have financial ability to invest in developments and run the business is too corrupt and has no obligations to make enterprise profitable. Consequently, we have skillful workers who are working in the operation which is going bankrupt, because 'owners' do not have personal investments in the business, and have no skills and obligations; plus, main source of income is not the enterprise but position in the government. Problem of corruption, created the situation where the position in the government naturally emphasized the accumulation of the capital through corruption. Corruption became a new norm, creating a unique equilibrium, where the higher levels of the government are equally criminal as the lower; and none of them have leverage and interest in changing this equilibrium. And direct connection to the section of economy presents with additional opportunities for enrichment of the ruling elite who have no obligation to make their enterprise profitable. And ordinary people knowing the magnitude of the problem refuse to apply any pressure on the government, because they don't see any other alternative but to continue going through this 'phase' (so in a way it is an element of stability); In this shadow economy if feels that the president is a president as long as he does not challenge corruption in the state. However, if there are misunderstandings, we have to remember that Nazarbayev is a product of a Soviet Tempering. He created an environment where according to the Human Rights Watch, reports of imprisonment of leading opposition figures, murder, tortures, harassment, imprisonment of journalists, control of the major TV stations, news agencies and many other political crimes are practiced regularly. As a result, impoverishment of the ordinary people, imbedded the foundation in the nature of the state to be strictly of a criminal character. Just like the Wild West in US, Kazakhstan is going through a wild Post Soviet Era; therefore it's going to take a while until controls are established and the government would feel responsible for their action.