Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Warga di lingkungan kami saling melindungi dan melaporkan jika ada hal berbahaya kepada polisi. - The citizens in our neighborhood protect each other and report to the police if there is something dangerous.

Warga means residents / members of a community or area. It usually implies people who belong to a defined group (by place, organization, or citizenship).

Comparison:

warga
- residents, members, citizens (of a certain community)
- e.g. warga desa (village residents), warga negara (citizen of a country)
orang
- person/people in general, very broad
- e.g. banyak orang (many people)
penduduk
- inhabitants/population of a place (more formal/statistical)
- e.g. penduduk Indonesia (Indonesia’s population)

In this sentence, warga is natural because we’re talking about people who live in and belong to the neighborhood community. Using orang would sound less specific; penduduk would sound more like a demographic term.

What does lingkungan mean here? Is it “environment” or “neighborhood”?

Lingkungan can mean both environment and (immediate) surroundings, but in everyday urban context it very often means neighborhood / local community.

In di lingkungan kami, it means in our neighborhood / in our community—the people living around us, not nature/the natural environment.

Common uses:

lingkungan rumah – the area around the house
lingkungan kerja – work environment / workplace setting
lingkungan RT/RW – local administrative neighborhood unit

Why is it di lingkungan kami and not pada lingkungan kami?

Both di and pada can mean in/at, but:

di is the normal, everyday preposition for physical places: di rumah, di Jakarta, di sekolah.
pada is more formal and is often used for:
- abstract things: pada kesempatan ini (on this occasion)
- certain fixed expressions
- formal writing

Di lingkungan kami is the natural, neutral choice in speech and writing for “in our neighborhood.” Pada lingkungan kami would sound overly formal or odd in this context.

What’s the nuance of kami here? Why not kita?

Indonesian distinguishes between two kinds of we:

kami = we (excluding the listener)
kita = we (including the listener)

Lingkungan kami = our neighborhood (but not yours)
Lingkungan kita = our neighborhood (including you)

In a real conversation:

If you are talking to someone who lives in the same area, you’d likely say lingkungan kita.
Using lingkungan kami suggests you’re talking about your neighborhood to someone outside that neighborhood.

What does saling mean, and how does it work with melindungi?

Saling means each other / one another / mutually.

Structure: saling + verb
It indicates that the action is done by the subjects to each other, not just in one direction.

saling melindungi = protect each other / mutually protect
saling membantu = help each other
saling menghormati = respect each other

You don’t add “each other” again; saling already carries that meaning. So saling melindungi is enough; you don’t say saling melindungi satu sama lain unless you want extra emphasis.

What’s the difference between melindungi and the base word lindung?

lindung is the root (not usually used alone as a verb in standard Indonesian).
melindungi is meN- + lindung + -i, and it’s the normal verb form meaning to protect / to guard.

So:

melindungi anak-anak – to protect the children
perlindungan – protection (noun, formed from per- + lindung + -an)

In this sentence, saling melindungi is the correct and natural verb phrase.

How is melaporkan built, and what is its object in this sentence?

Melaporkan comes from:

root: lapor (to report)
prefix + suffix: meN- + lapor + -kan → melaporkan

Meaning: to report (something) to someone.

In the sentence:

verb: melaporkan
(implied) direct object: hal berbahaya (dangerous things / anything dangerous)
indirect object: kepada polisi (to the police)

So the structure is basically: (Warga) melaporkan (hal berbahaya) kepada polisi
The object hal berbahaya is partly inside the jika-clause (if there is something dangerous), so it’s not repeated again after melaporkan.

Why is it jika ada hal berbahaya and not something like jika hal berbahaya ada?

In Indonesian, existence is usually expressed with ada + noun:

ada masalah – there is a problem
ada orang – there is someone

So:

jika ada hal berbahaya = “if there is anything dangerous”

Putting ada at the end (jika hal berbahaya ada) is grammatically odd and not natural in modern Indonesian.

The pattern is:

jika / kalau + ada + [thing]
e.g. jika ada pertanyaan, kalau ada waktu

What does hal mean here, and how is it different from benda or masalah?

Hal is a very general word meaning thing / matter / issue (often abstract or not clearly specified).

In this sentence, hal berbahaya = something dangerous / dangerous things, not necessarily a physical object; it could be a situation, activity, or object.

Comparison:

hal
- thing / matter / issue (often abstract or vague)
- hal penting (an important matter)
benda
- physical object
- benda tajam (sharp object)
masalah
- problem / issue
- masalah serius (serious problem)

So hal berbahaya is intentionally broad: any kind of dangerous thing or situation.

Why berbahaya and not just bahaya?

bahaya is a noun: danger.
berbahaya is an adjective: dangerous (literally “having danger / being in a state of danger”).

Formation: ber- + bahaya → berbahaya

Examples:

Ini berbahaya. – This is dangerous.
Ada bahaya. – There is a danger.

In hal berbahaya, we need an adjective modifying hal, so berbahaya is correct, not bahaya.

What’s the difference between jika and kalau here? Could we use kalau instead?

Yes, you could say:

... dan melaporkan kalau ada hal berbahaya kepada polisi.

Differences:

jika
- more formal, neutral, often in writing
- corresponds to if in English
kalau
- more informal, very common in speech
- can mean if or when / in case

In this sentence, both are correct. Jika just makes the sentence sound a bit more formal or neutral; kalau is more conversational.

Why is it kepada polisi and not just ke polisi? Are both possible?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

kepada
- more formal, often used for people as recipients of an action
- common in writing and official contexts
ke
- more general “to / towards”, used for places and casually for people

In melaporkan ... kepada polisi, kepada sounds slightly more formal and fits the idea of reporting an issue to someone (the police).

In everyday speech, many people say:

lapor ke polisi
which is shorter and informal.

So:

Formal / neutral: melaporkan hal berbahaya kepada polisi
Casual: lapor ke polisi kalau ada hal berbahaya

Can the word order be changed, for example moving the jika-clause?

Yes, Indonesian word order is flexible with jika / kalau clauses. These are all acceptable:

Warga di lingkungan kami saling melindungi dan melaporkan jika ada hal berbahaya kepada polisi.
Jika ada hal berbahaya, warga di lingkungan kami saling melindungi dan melaporkan kepada polisi.
Warga di lingkungan kami, jika ada hal berbahaya, saling melindungi dan melaporkan kepada polisi.

The meaning is the same. Starting with Jika ada hal berbahaya (version 2) emphasizes the condition “if there is something dangerous.”

Is this sentence formal, neutral, or casual? How would it sound in more casual spoken Indonesian?

As written, it’s neutral to slightly formal—perfect for general descriptions, news, or writing.

A more casual spoken version might be:

Orang-orang di lingkungan kita saling jaga dan langsung lapor ke polisi kalau ada hal-hal berbahaya.

Changes:

orang-orang instead of warga (more everyday)
kita instead of kami (assuming the listener is part of the group)
saling jaga instead of saling melindungi (more colloquial)
lapor ke polisi instead of melaporkan ... kepada polisi
kalau instead of jika (casual conditional)
maybe hal-hal berbahaya (plural-ish, “dangerous things”) in informal speech.