1.   Critics accuse the PAP of stifling opposition through tight controls on public speech, assembly and the media.

2.   His report, which accused Iraq of brutally stifling political opposition, so angered Iraqi authorities that he was not permitted to return.

3.   Lukashenko is an authoritarian leader who wins praise at home for keeping order and earns criticism abroad for stifling political opposition.

4.   Ruling party lawmakers in Zimbabwe passed two laws Thursday aimed at stifling opposition to Mugabe.

5.   Singapore has been criticized abroad for its hard line against political dissent, and for stifling opposition with libel suits.

6.   A heavy Indonesian military presence has largely succeeded in stifling armed opposition by guerrillas of Fretilin, the Front for the Liberation of East Timor.