“Udang di sebalik batu”, translated literally from Bahasa Malaysia as “prawn beneath the rocks” is a Malay idiom used to describe there’s a hidden or deeper issue behind what’s being shown on the surface. Something like a hidden agenda.

It’s important to always remind ourselves that alot of things are not what it seems, or that the whole truths might not be what is shown openly to the public. One good example is the recent rise of alternative news channels in Malaysia. More Malaysians are now rising to a new awareness, rising to a new consciousness level about the truth that is surrounding the political scene of the country. We are now better at reading between the lines at what the mainstream medias are feeding us. We are also becoming more selective at the information that we are receiving. We’ve learn to become better at flipping the rocks and discovering the prawns.

Similarly, when reading about someone’s success (or failures), it’s sometimes also a good idea to go a step further in finding out the close associates that have been instrumental in that person’s life. It could be his supportive wife or his influential father. Or his success could have been attributed to an experienced low-profile mentor which was never mentioned in his biographies. And if he’s been a failure in the later part of his life, who is involved in his downfall?

There’s much we can learn from these unrevealed chapters and untold stories.

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