OB markers In Singapore’s political discourse, the term ‘out- of- bounds (OB) markers’ (a golf term) indicates the limits of acceptable political and artistic expression. The original use of the term in a political sense is attributed to Cabinet minister George Yeo in 1991, in the context of the government’s pledge of greater openness and consultation. The government has said that OB markers will always exist, but that the area within bounds will widen steadily as Singapore matures politically.

One of the best- known OB marker cases occurred in 1994, when writer Catherine Lim wrote about ‘an arrogant, high- handed and authoritarian government’. The prime minister’s press secretary responded sharply to this criticism, and Lim responded by saying that she had never intended to question the prime minister’s fitness to govern. In the words of Lee Hsien Loong, ‘a boundary had been probed, and an out- of- bounds (OB) marker firmly planted’.

OB markers can be distinguished from laws and regulations associated with criminal prosecution. They are a largely political construct, a breach of which attracts a political response. However, artists accused of crossing OB markers have occasionally faced legal action, as when performance- artist Josef Ng was fined, in 1994, for committing an obscene act— cutting his pubic hair in public. The government has claimed that clear OB markers enhance the freedom of those who operate within them although some commentators have viewed OB markers as excessively vague.

See also press freedom.