Switzerland's southernmost Ticino canton is set to hold a referendum on September 22, for banning burqa in public places. A burqa is a full-face covering headgear normally worn by Muslim women
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In May this year, the incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has governed Malaysia since 1957, was re-elected for the thirteenth time in a row. The record 85 percent voter turnout gave BN 133 out of 222 parliamentary seats, with the remaining going to Anwar Ibrahim led Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a three-party opposition coalition. But more importantly, BN secured only 47 percent of the popular vote, which is its worst-ever electoral performance. Analysts have thus argued that if another election victory is an endorsement of government’s strong performance under the Economic Transformation Programme, BN's shrinking voter base is a timely reminder for PM Najib to pay heed to PR's election rallying-cry of “ubah” or “change” in BN's policies of Malay racism.
Read MoreConsider this: In 2005, a prominent and among the largest selling newspapers in a country published 12 controversial editorial cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad that led to violent protests all over the world. Three years later, a country suffers the biggest banking collapse - relative to the size of an economy - in modern world's economic history. In May this year, the capital city of a country witnessed racial riots in which more than 20 cars were torched in one night, school classrooms were burned down, and far-right extremists were seen chasing immigrants around a suburb.
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