The Netherlands After Sept. 11: Questioning Liberal Values

In 2002, the country witnessed the shock murder of right-wing gay politician Pim Fortuyn, who shook up the political establishment with his views that the country needed to halt immigration and that Islam was a backward religion which threatened Holland's liberal and tolerant society.

Though many disagreed with his views, they seemed to have touched a political chord. The country swung to the right in general elections following Fortuyn's death. Under the center-right coalition led by Jan Peter Balkenende, The Hague adopted a tougher stance on immigration and asylum as well as fighting crime.

Balkenende also committed over 1,000 troops to postwar Iraq in 2003 -- a decision that caused deep unease in a country still recovering from the trauma of the Sebrenica massacre in 1995, which took place under the noses of Dutch UN peacekeepers.

Murder shocks nation

In November 2004, the Netherlands was rocked anew by the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a radical Islamist for making a controversial Islam-critical film. The incident sparked a wave of reprisals including burnings of schools and places of worship, fueling a debate about whether multicultural policy had failed and more efforts should be made to oblige immigrants to learn Dutch and embrace local values.

The Netherlands is home to nearly one million Muslims, mostly from Turkey and Morocco. The van Gogh killing also sparked renewed alarm over terrorism after his murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri was found to belong to a radical group with links to international Islamist terrorist networks.

Stringent anti-terror measures

In response, the government passed stringent anti-terrorism measures geared to crack down on Islamist extremism and expel radical imams. In 2005, the Dutch withdrew their troops from Iraq, though they have agreed to keep troops in Afghanistan and increase their peacekeepers there.

In June this year, the Netherlands experienced another political bombshell when the center-right government resigned over a row over former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born woman and strident critic of Islam.

Balkenende currently leads a minority government and new general elections are due in November this year. Many believe that the Netherlands is some ways is going through an identity crisis as the values and principles that the country has represented for years come increasingly under doubt.