Ministers should err on the side of caution when making statements

in the new government need to understand that whatever they say in public will have consequences, especially when issuing statements against companies without careful scrutiny.

In the most recent case, Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin issued a reactive statement regarding Lynas, which was granted an extension until Feb 15 to store waste materials in its Kuantan plant.

Yeo said a public hearing was scheduled on Nov 11 in Kuantan regarding Lynas’ continued operations in the area. However, there was a glaring problem. Lynas did not mention the deadline of the extension in their official statement dated Oct 30.

This was clarified by Yeo in her statement as minister, but her office issued two statements an hour apart. The second statement with eight words less was a correction. The eight words are “instead of unlimited period as announced by the company”.

This meant that Yeo had officially accused Lynas of saying they received an extension for an unlimited period. The problem here is that Lynas said nothing about the duration of the extension, nor the deadline.

Yeo and her team managed to correct the mistake in time, but whether the corrected statement made its rounds is questionable.

In these days of a shrinking media sector, we should all be careful of what we say in public for fear of reprisal. And if media companies publish facts that are not true or verified, they risk being sued.

Ministers and their support crew need to be careful of what they want to say and be measured in their words. A dire economic statement could trigger a run to the banks, a personal off the cuff remark against companies can trigger lawsuits and economic sabotage, and false accusations can make a situation worse.

One should always err on the side of caution and choose one’s words when issuing statements.