Recent days of heavy downpour have laid bare once again the profound vulnerability of the nation to catastrophic urban flooding. Neighborhood streets have turned into rushing, unmanageable rivers, residential properties have been submerged, schools have suspended classes, working adults are trapped inside their homes, and local business owners face catastrophic threats to both their property and their regular income streams. Motorists who were forced to navigate submerged roadways are now left covering costly repair bills for water-damaged vehicles. Across affected areas, widespread frustration, anger, and a sense of powerlessness have taken hold. But as a society, we must confront one simple, unflinching question: who bears responsibility for this repeated water crisis?
The answer is far from straightforward, because the unvarnished truth is that this is a collective failure of the entire society. There is no doubt that government holds significant responsibility for the current crisis, but ordinary citizens must also be willing to examine their own behavior honestly. We cannot continually point fingers at the national government when some among us brazenly dump discarded refrigerators, freezers, mattresses and other bulk waste in drainage ditches and storm sewers. We cannot reasonably complain about clogged drainage canals when members of our community casually toss empty bottles, plastic cups and other litter onto streets from car windows as if this careless behavior is socially acceptable.
Flooding is not triggered by intense rainfall alone; it is also the direct product of harmful human behavior and decades of systemic neglect, a lack of individual discipline, collective accountability, and regulatory enforcement. That said, this shared responsibility does not absolve the national government and public authorities of their outsized responsibility to address the crisis. On the contrary: the core role of government is to set clear direction for society, develop proactive policy, enforce regulatory standards, and educate the public on the dangers of environmental pollution and poor spatial planning.
So where is the structured, sustained public outreach to inform citizens that clogging drainage ditches and sewers with waste creates life-threatening risks? Where are the national public awareness campaigns to drive home this critical message? Where are the routine inspections and meaningful penalties for individuals and businesses that damage the nation’s critical drainage infrastructure? Why are violators almost never held accountable for their actions? Why are drainage canals not cleared and maintained on a regular, proactive schedule? Why do authorities only act when floodwater is already lapping at residents’ front doors — and in some cases, fail to act even then?
A government should not only be visible during emergency press conferences or issuing after-the-fact statements. Good governance requires proactive planning, forward thinking, and preemptive action to stop small problems from escalating into full-blown national disasters. It is precisely on this core metric that the current government and public administration have failed.
After nearly nine months in office, society is fully justified in asking tough questions about the policies of the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Spatial Planning. Flooding is never just a natural disaster; it is also the outcome of flawed long-term planning, inadequate routine infrastructure maintenance, and a persistent lack of decisive policy action. The claim that “there is no money” can no longer be used as a shield when residents are literally drowning in floodwater in their own communities.
If it is true that public funding for drainage infrastructure is truly insufficient, then the Ministry of Finance and Planning must also face rigorous scrutiny. How can core public services like functional drainage, resilient infrastructure and residential flood protection not be guaranteed when national budget priorities are set?
Too often, current leaders blame the previous administration for skipping routine infrastructure maintenance. While that claim may hold a grain of truth, it has long since lost its persuasive power. The public voted for new leadership and gave this government a clear mandate to solve long-standing problems. When leaders accept the responsibility of governing, they also accept the obligation to fix the failures of past administrations, not just repeat them.
It is easy to criticize from the sidelines. But once you take power and are forced to address pressing national challenges, the true weight of governing becomes clear. Even so, the inherent difficulty of the job can never be an excuse for inaction, negligence or a lack of long-term vision.
The harsh reality we face is this: climate change will only make extreme rainfall more intense and more frequent in the coming years. Deforestation, destruction of natural green spaces, and lax environmental policy have eroded our natural flood buffer systems to a dangerous degree. If we fail to implement bold, decisive reforms today, the crisis will only grow far worse tomorrow. Repeated flooding will no longer be a temporary inconvenience; it will become an annual recurring national crisis. That is why this moment must serve as a critical wake-up call for every stakeholder: the national government, local public authorities, the private sector, and individual citizens.
We must stop the pointless blame-shifting that has delayed action for decades. Individual citizens must take responsibility for protecting their shared living environment. The government must finally invest in sustainable policy, proactive infrastructure maintenance, regular inspection, and consistent enforcement. Penalties for illegal dumping and environmental pollution must be visible and impactful enough to deter bad behavior. Spatial planning must be treated as the critical public priority it is. Most of all, we need leadership that does not just name problems, but actually solves them. Because today, we are all drowning — both literally, in floodwater, and figuratively, in inaction.
The damage already done to homes, vehicles, businesses and public infrastructure is substantial, and it will only grow without action. But the greater damage that is now unfolding is the erosion of public trust in the nation’s leaders. That core question remains unanswered: who is to blame for the recurring flooding crisis?
Perhaps the most honest answer is that all of us share some responsibility. But that shared blame also means we must work together to find a shared solution.
