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Bangkit Sabahan 2.0 rally rescheduled for smoother coordination
Published on: Fri, Jul 25, 2025 Text Size: Kota Kinabalu: The Bangkit Sabahan 2.0 rally, originally scheduled for Saturday (July 26) at Padang Merdeka here has been postponed to a later date. According to G57 chairman cum Gerakan Bangkit Sabahan advisor Datuk Zulkarnain Mahdar ( pic ), the decision was made due to technical and logistical considerations, allowing for further coordination with NGOs, activists, and security agencies. A new date is expected to be announced in early August following final discussions with all relevant stakeholders. The rally is intended as a show of solidarity with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and the GRS-PH government in their ongoing efforts to uphold Sabah's rights and political stability. Over 100 associations and NGO coalitions had pledged support for the gathering, with estimated participation exceeding 10,000 people. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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TALLINN, Estonia: YouTube videos that won't load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone Internet connections that are down for hours or days. Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous. It's not a network glitch but a deliberate, multipronged and long-term effort by authorities to bring the Internet under the Kremlin's full control. Authorities adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won't comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic. While it's still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network apps, those are routinely blocked, too. Authorities further restricted Internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone Internet connections and adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit. 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Kremlin efforts to control what Russians do, read or say online dates to 2011-12, when the Internet was used to challenge authority. Independent media outlets bloomed, and anti-government demonstrations that were coordinated online erupted after disputed parliamentary elections and Putin's decision to run again for president. Russia began adopting regulations tightening Internet controls. Some blocked websites; others required providers to store call records and messages, sharing it with security services if needed, and install equipment allowing authorities to control and cut off traffic. Companies like Google or Facebook were pressured to store user data on Russian servers, to no avail, and plans were announced for a "sovereign Internet' that could be cut off from the rest of the world. Russia's popular Facebook-like social media platform VK, founded by Pavel Durov long before he launched the Telegram messaging app, came under the control of Kremlin-friendly companies. 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Stanislav Seleznev, cyber security expert and lawyer with the Net Freedom rights group, doesn't expect ubiquitous prosecutions, since tracking individual online searches in a country of 146 million remains a tall order. But even a limited number of cases could scare many from restricted content, he said. Another major step could be blocking WhatsApp, which monitoring service Mediascope said had over 97 million monthly users in April. WhatsApp "should prepare to leave the Russian market,' said lawmaker Anton Gorelkin, and a new "national' messenger, MAX, developed by social media company VK, would take its place. Telegram probably won't be restricted, he said. MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported. Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX. Anastasiya Zhyrmont of the Access Now digital rights group said both Telegram and WhatsApp were disrupted in Russia in July in what could be a test of how potential blockages would affect Internet infrastructure. It wouldn't be uncommon. In recent years, authorities regularly tested cutting off the Internet from the rest of the world, sometimes resulting in outages in some regions. Darbinyan believes the only way to make people use MAX is to "shut down, stifle' every Western alternative. "But again, habits... do not change in a year or two. And these habits acquired over decades, when the Internet was fast and free,' he said. Government media and Internet regulator Roskomnadzor uses more sophisticated methods, analysing all web traffic and identifying what it can block or choke off, Darbinyan said. It's been helped by "years of perfecting the technology, years of taking over and understanding the architecture of the Internet and the players,' as well as Western sanctions and companies leaving the Russian market since 2022, said Kruope of Human Rights Watch. Russia is "not there yet' in isolating its Internet from the rest of the world, Darbinyan said, but Kremlin efforts are "bringing it closer'. – AP
