The preposition oleh most often introduces the agent or cause after a passive predicate. In Laporan itu ditulis oleh Aina, the report is the grammatical starting point, ditulis presents the writing passively, and oleh Aina identifies the writer. English often translates oleh as by, but not every English by calls for oleh.
Laporan itu ditulis oleh Aina selepas mesyuarat.
The report was written by Aina after the meeting.
A central feature of Malaysian Malay is that oleh may be omitted when a third-person agent stands immediately next to a di- passive verb: Laporan itu ditulis Aina. Once other material intervenes, oleh keeps the agent’s role clear. This page focuses on that relator choice; the complete voice system is covered on the di- passive overview.
From an active actor to a passive agent
An active clause begins from the actor and normally uses an active meN- verb. A corresponding di- passive begins from the affected participant or result. Oleh can then reintroduce the actor as the passive agent.
Aina menyediakan minit mesyuarat itu pagi tadi.
Aina prepared the minutes of the meeting this morning.
Minit mesyuarat itu disediakan oleh Aina pagi tadi.
The minutes of the meeting were prepared by Aina this morning.
Jawatankuasa akan menilai semua permohonan minggu depan.
The committee will assess all applications next week. (formal)
Semua permohonan akan dinilai oleh jawatankuasa minggu depan.
All applications will be assessed by the committee next week. (formal)
The event is the same in each pair, but the information structure changes. The passive is useful when the minutes or applications are already the topic, when the result matters more than the actor, or when the actor is unknown. Oleh does not create the passive by itself; di- on the verb supplies the passive morphology, and oleh labels the agent.
An agent phrase is often omitted because it is unknown or irrelevant.
Pintu utama akan ditutup pada pukul sembilan malam.
The main entrance will be closed at nine at night. (formal notice)
Adding oleh kakitangan keselamatan is appropriate only if the staff’s identity matters. English-speaking learners sometimes feel that every passive needs a by-phrase. Malay, like English, readily leaves the agent unexpressed.
Adjacent agents can omit oleh
With a third-person noun phrase immediately after a di- passive verb, oleh is often optional. Both versions below are standard; the version without oleh is more compact.
Cadangan itu diluluskan oleh pihak pengurusan semalam.
The proposal was approved by the management yesterday. (formal)
Cadangan itu diluluskan pihak pengurusan semalam.
The proposal was approved by the management yesterday. (compact formal style)
The crucial condition is adjacency. In diluluskan pihak pengurusan, the noun phrase directly follows the passive verb, so its agent role is easy to recover. If an adverbial or other constituent comes between them, retain oleh.
Cadangan itu diluluskan semalam oleh pihak pengurusan selepas perbincangan panjang.
The proposal was approved yesterday by the management after a long discussion. (formal)
Without oleh, the sequence diluluskan semalam pihak pengurusan is difficult to parse and is not the dependable Standard Malaysian pattern. You may instead restore adjacency—Cadangan itu diluluskan pihak pengurusan semalam—or retain oleh after the adverbial.
A long or coordinated agent also benefits from explicit oleh, even when adjacent, because the marker announces the role before the reader processes the heavy phrase.
Program itu dibiayai oleh kerajaan negeri dan beberapa syarikat tempatan.
The programme was funded by the state government and several local companies. (formal)
This optionality is not a licence to remove every oleh. It is a local structural option created by immediate contact between the passive verb and its agent.
Personal agents and object voice
With first- and second-person agents, everyday Malaysian Malay generally prefers object voice: Surat itu saya tulis “I wrote that letter” and Borang ini perlu anda isi “You need to fill in this form.” A heavy di-...oleh saya phrase is possible in strongly contrastive or bureaucratic contexts, but it is not the neutral default.
Surat itu saya tulis sendiri, bukan disalin daripada contoh dalam talian.
I wrote that letter myself; it wasn’t copied from an online template.
Borang ini perlu anda isi sebelum mendaftar masuk.
You need to fill in this form before checking in. (formal instruction)
Do not infer from these examples that oleh is simply forbidden before pronouns. Forms such as olehnya “by him/her” are standard, particularly in formal writing. The point is that person and discourse status affect which passive construction speakers naturally choose. See object voice for the full pattern.
Non-human causes after oleh
An oleh phrase need not denote an intentional person. It may name a force, condition, or event that affects the passive subject. The predicate still presents the subject as undergoing an effect.
Beberapa jalan utama ditenggelami oleh air banjir selepas hujan lebat.
Several main roads were inundated by floodwater after heavy rain.
Jadual penerbangan terjejas oleh cuaca buruk di Pantai Timur.
The flight schedule was affected by bad weather on the East Coast. (formal)
Kerosakan itu disebabkan oleh kebocoran paip di tingkat atas.
The damage was caused by a leaking pipe on the upper floor. (formal)
These causes resemble passive agents because they are construed as the source of an effect. They do not become intentional actors. The verb and context determine whether the complement is an agent (ditulis oleh wartawan) or a cause (terjejas oleh cuaca).
oleh is not the general word for English “by”
Use dengan for an instrument or means when the actor uses it to perform an action. Compare the agent and instrument in one sentence:
Surat itu ditandatangani oleh pengarah dengan pen berdakwat biru.
The letter was signed by the director with a blue-ink pen.
Oleh pengarah names the signer; dengan pen names the instrument. English can use by for method—by bus, by email, by hand—but Malay normally uses dengan, melalui, or another expression suited to the relation.
Kami menghantar dokumen itu melalui e-mel, bukan oleh e-mel.
We sent the document by email, not with an oleh phrase.
The final clause mentions the rejected wording for contrast; the idiomatic method phrase is melalui e-mel. Similarly, datang dengan bas means “come by bus.” See dengan: instrument, companion, and manner.
oleh sebab itu and oleh itu as formal connectives
The fixed connectives oleh sebab itu and oleh itu mean “for that reason/therefore” (formal). They refer back to a reason established in the preceding discourse and present the next statement as its consequence. A comma normally follows either expression when it stands at the beginning of a sentence.
Paras air terus meningkat sepanjang malam. Oleh sebab itu, semua penduduk di kawasan rendah diarahkan berpindah.
The water level continued to rise throughout the night. For that reason, all residents in low-lying areas were ordered to evacuate. (formal)
The sequence oleh kerana itu is widespread in actual use, but the conservative DBP norm treats it as ill-formed: prepositional oleh can take the noun sebab, whereas kerana is a conjunction. For edited Standard Malaysian Malay, choose oleh sebab itu or the shorter oleh itu. In everyday conversation, sebab itu “that’s why” (informal) is more natural. These connectives organize a cause–result relation across clauses; they are not ordinary passive-agent phrases.
Bas lewat hampir sejam, sebab itu saya tidak sempat sarapan.
The bus was almost an hour late, so I didn’t have time for breakfast. (informal)
Do not confuse the connective with disebabkan oleh, which introduces the cause inside a clause: Kelewatan itu disebabkan oleh kerosakan enjin “The delay was caused by engine trouble.”
Common Mistakes
1. Using oleh for an instrument
❌ Borang itu diisi oleh pensel.
Incorrect for the intended instrument reading—this makes the pencil sound like the agent.
✅ Borang itu diisi dengan pensel.
The form was filled in with a pencil.
2. Omitting oleh when the agent is not adjacent
❌ Laporan itu disiapkan semalam pasukan audit.
Incorrect in careful Malay—the intervening time adverbial leaves the final noun phrase unmarked.
✅ Laporan itu disiapkan semalam oleh pasukan audit.
The report was completed yesterday by the audit team. (formal)
3. Adding an agent when none is useful
❌ Kedai akan ditutup pada pukul lapan oleh mereka.
Awkward—the vague agent adds no useful information and distracts from the notice.
✅ Kedai akan ditutup pada pukul lapan.
The shop will be closed at eight.
4. Stranding oleh without a complement
❌ Keputusan itu dibuat oleh semalam.
Incorrect—oleh must introduce an agent or cause; semalam is only a time adverbial.
✅ Keputusan itu dibuat oleh jawatankuasa semalam.
The decision was made by the committee yesterday. (formal)
5. Using oleh kerana itu in edited formal prose
❌ Jalan utama dinaiki air. Oleh kerana itu, bas tidak dapat melalui kawasan tersebut.
Avoid this disputed connective in edited Standard Malay; oleh should introduce the noun sebab, not the conjunction kerana.
✅ Jalan utama dinaiki air. Oleh sebab itu, bas tidak dapat melalui kawasan tersebut.
The main road was flooded. For that reason, buses could not pass through the area. (formal)
Key Takeaways
Use oleh to introduce a named agent or affecting cause after a passive predicate. An immediately adjacent third-person agent may omit it—ditulis Aina—but an intervening phrase normally makes oleh necessary for clarity. Leave the agent out when it is irrelevant, use dengan for an instrument, and use oleh sebab itu or oleh itu—not prescriptively disputed oleh kerana itu—as a formal cause–result connective.
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Start learning Malay →Related Topics
- di- Passive: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA1 — Form the Malaysian Malay di- passive by placing the affected subject first, attaching di- to the verb, and optionally adding a third-person agent.
- Object Voice with a Bare Verb: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA2 — Form object voice with a fronted definite patient, a preverbal first- or second-person actor, and a verb without actor-voice meN-.
- dengan: Instrument, Companion, and Manner in Malaysian MalayA1 — Use dengan for tools, companions, manner, and reciprocal partners without confusing it with dan or passive-agent oleh.
- kerana and akibatA2 — Choose kerana for a reason clause and akibat for a nominal cause, while keeping responsibility and formal register clear.
- Cause, Reason, and Result Chains in Malaysian MalayB1 — Distinguish causal sources with kerana or sebab, resulting endpoints with sehingga or sampai, and discourse conclusions with akibatnya or oleh sebab itu.