Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Rapat besok pagi dibatalkan karena listrik mati. - Tomorrow morning’s meeting was canceled because the electricity went out.

dibatalkan is the passive form of batal (to cancel). In Indonesian, passive voice uses the prefix di- (and here the suffix -kan because batal takes an object). This structure means “the meeting is canceled” (the action happens to rapat).
By contrast, membatalkan is the active transitive verb “to cancel (something),” which would require an explicit subject performing the action (e.g., Manajemen membatalkan rapat).

What does besok pagi mean, and why is it placed right after rapat?

besok pagi means “tomorrow morning.” When you say rapat besok pagi, you’re using besok pagi as a modifier of the noun rapat (“the meeting that’s tomorrow morning”).
If you moved besok pagi to the end—Rapat dibatalkan besok pagi—you’d instead be specifying when the cancellation occurs. Word order in Indonesian is flexible, but placing a time phrase immediately after a noun makes it a noun modifier.

Why isn’t there an explicit subject (agent) who canceled the meeting?

Indonesian often uses an agentless passive to focus on the action or result rather than the doer. Omitting the agent is natural when it’s obvious or unimportant. If you did want to mention who canceled it, you’d add oleh (by):

Rapat dibatalkan oleh manajemen.

Why isn’t akan (will) used before dibatalkan to mark the future?

When a future time marker like besok pagi is already in the sentence, Indonesian typically drops akan. The presence of besok pagi clearly indicates that the cancellation applies to tomorrow morning.

More wordy but still correct: Rapat besok pagi akan dibatalkan.

What tense is dibatalkan, and how do we know when the action takes place?

Indonesian verbs do not inflect for tense. dibatalkan is simply a passive form; it does not by itself indicate past, present, or future. We rely on time adverbials like besok pagi (tomorrow morning) to establish the time frame.

What’s the difference between listrik mati and listrik padam?

Both phrases mean “the electricity went out.”

mati literally means “to die/off” and can apply to any device or function.
padam often specifically refers to an outage (like a blackout).
In everyday speech, listrik mati and listrik padam are interchangeable when talking about losing power.

How would you rephrase this sentence in active voice?

You need an explicit agent and the active verb membatalkan. For example:

Manajemen membatalkan rapat besok pagi karena listrik mati.
Mereka membatalkan rapat besok pagi karena listrik padam.

What’s the difference between rapat and pertemuan?

rapat usually refers to a formal or business-related meeting (office, organization).
pertemuan is more general and can describe any gathering or meetup (social, informal events).
Choose rapat in a corporate context and pertemuan when you want a broader term for any kind of meeting.