The Admiral
"Wake Up Call" by "The Admiral" is a scathing, emotionally charged opinion piece that serves as a fierce critique of the current government's handling of the devastating Cyclone Ditwah. The author accuses the political leadership—including the President, Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, and various ministers—of criminal negligence, incompetence, and prioritizing political maneuvering and personal luxury over saving human lives.
The article highlights the stark contrast between the known, pre-disaster weather warnings and the delayed, inadequate, and politically motivated response that followed. The Admiral uses vivid and hyperbolic language to condemn the alleged waste of public funds on luxury vehicles while the disaster management budget remains minuscule, painting a picture of a country weeping not just from the rain, but from the systemic failure and sheer indifference of its ruling class. The piece concludes with a powerful, desperate call for the citizens of Sri Lanka to recognize the true disaster: their uncaring, incompetent leaders.
The country is weeping. Not from rain. From incompetence.
Hundreds of lives gone. Fathers dead. Mothers dead. Children orphaned. Homes destroyed. Livelihoods washed away. And what were our leaders doing? Politics. Always politics.
Everyone knew the weather forecast. The warnings came days before. The cyclone was on the radar. But Parliament was busy being a circus. The President was busy having important meetings with fifth-grade artists about how to develop art in the country. Very urgent. More urgent than human lives, apparently. Our Prime Minister was busy teaching logic to Parliament. Logic. From a woman who does not know if she is standing, sitting, or squatting. A walking disaster teaching others about disasters.
The megalomaniac opposition leader was busy proving to the world that he has integrity. While people to be drowned, he was polishing his image. Because that is what matters when bodies are floating in floodwater.
Then the cyclone hit. Then people died. Then reality came knocking with the force of a tsunami.
The Minister of Disaster of Words took a helicopter to Batticaloa. Very important. He needed a bird’s eye view. He flew over the destruction, looked down at the suffering, and then came back to give us his words. His words are the real disaster. Empty words from an empty suit flying in an expensive helicopter.
The Treasury Secretary, who should never have been given that chair, is now struggling to issue a circular for emergency spending. The man cannot even push paper fast enough while people are dying. Incompetent does not begin to describe it.
The opposition had to scream and shout just to get the President to declare a state of emergency. They had to beg him. And he stayed silent. Silent while the country drowned. Then finally, when it was too late, when the damage was done, he declared it. Who is advising this man? A fortune teller? An astrologer? A sleeping cat?
Now people are starving. They have no food. They have no clean water. They are sick without medicine. They have no shelter. They have lost everything. They stand in the ruins of their lives, looking at the sky, wondering what they did to deserve leaders like this.
But do not worry. Soon, 1775 brand new double-cab vehicles will arrive on our roads. Forty billion rupees for luxury vehicles. Forty billion. Meanwhile, the disaster management budget is 1.2 billion rupees. Forty billion for vehicles. 1.2 billion for saving lives. The math is clear. A comfortable ride for politicians is thirty-three times more important than saving people from disasters.
But do not worry. The 225 luxury vehicles are still running smoothly on our roads. The political leaders are still sitting comfortably in their luxury seats with air conditioning. They are still eating their icing cakes, their wattalapam, their chocolate biscuit pudding. Their stomachs are full. Their children sleep under solid roofs. Their children go to good schools. They have everything their hearts desire.
Let the people starve. Let them die. Let them drown. Let them be hopeless.
What matters is that our leaders live well. They deserve it. They work so hard attending meetings about art while people drown. They work so hard teaching logic while children become orphans. They work so hard polishing their images while families lose everything.
This is not governance. This is murder by negligence. This is criminal incompetence dressed in a suit and tie and a saree.
The weather forecast warned us about the cyclone. But nobody warned us about the real disaster. The disaster sitting in Parliament. The disaster sitting in luxury vehicles. The disaster eating cake while people eat mud.
Wake up, Sri Lanka. Your leaders are not sleeping. They are awake. They just do not care.
And that is far worse.