OB Markers sequel makes catch-22 proposal for ST

In Ink And Influence, author and former editor-in-chief of The Straits Times Cheong Yip Seng says the publication should focus on exporting Singapore's perspective on politics, business, economics and diplomacy

- Clement Yong

INK AND INFLUENCE: AN OB MARKERS SEQUEL By Cheong Yip Seng Non-fiction/World Scientific Publishing/Paperback/ 348 pages/$39.24 ★★★★★

As sequels go, few have generated as much frisson as this in the Singapore journo-sphere.

Former Straits Times editor-in-chief Cheong Yip Seng practically pioneered the genre of the newsman memoir in Singapore with his OB Markers: My Straits Times Story (2012). First used by then Minister for Information and the Arts George Yeo in 1991, that strange golfing fairway metaphor has rapidly gained currency as shorthand for the unsaid lines denoting what is or is not allowed in public discourse.

OB Markers, in saying aloud the hush-hush push-pull between the Government and the press, itself fell foul of these codes which, of course, simultaneously cemented its place as a sort of blueprint text for Singapore journalism. There was, after its publication, a high-profile kerfuffle over the withdrawal of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew's endorsement.

Despite sustained interest, there has been no reprint by Straits Times Press after removing Mr Lee's blurb, though an e-book version was released in 2024.

So, Ink And Influence, marketed explicitly as a follow-up to the best-selling tell-all, promised secrets: How much further would the 82-year-old go in excavating more skeletons?

In the event, not too far. Readers have to settle for the industry debate of a former editor-in-chief arguing for a radical change of direction for the paper of record he stopped helming in 2006.

What is surprising at this new book's heart is a detour into the arts, which Cheong characterises as a "non-violent battle" for Singapore's soul, particularly important for seeding solidarity as the country strides into its seventh decade. It is one of the few spots in the book where he specifically mentions "OB markers" — a migration of the contest from the newsroom to the realms of fiction and artistic expression.