Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dalam pidatonya, rektor mengajak lulusan kaya maupun miskin untuk membantu masyarakat. - In his/her speech, the rector invites both rich and poor graduates to help society.

Possessive:
- pidatonya = his/her speech
- bukunya = his/her/its book
“The” / that specific one:
- Filmnya bagus. = The film is good / That film is good.
Object pronoun (him/her/it) in other contexts:
- Saya melihatnya. = I saw him/her/it.

In Dalam pidatonya, context tells us it means “in his/her speech”, i.e. the rector’s speech. Indonesian doesn’t mark gender, so it could be “his” or “her” depending on who the rector is.

Why do we use dalam in Dalam pidatonya instead of di?

Dalam literally means “inside / within”, and it’s often used for more abstract “containers”:

dalam pidatonya = in his/her speech (within the content of the speech)
dalam buku ini = in this book (in its contents)
dalam situasi ini = in this situation

Di is the more basic “at / in / on” for physical locations:

di kantor = at the office
di meja = on the table

Sometimes both can appear possible, but dalam pidatonya sounds more natural and slightly more formal than di pidatonya, which is unusual. You talk within a speech, not just “at” it.

What exactly does rektor mean? Is it just “principal”?

Rektor is specifically the head of a university or higher-education institution (rector / president / chancellor, depending on the system).

For elementary, junior, or senior high schools, the usual term is kepala sekolah (school principal/head).
Rektor is gender‑neutral in Indonesian; it doesn’t say anything about male/female.

So in this sentence, rektor is best translated as “the rector” or “the university president”, not a school principal in general.

What is the nuance of mengajak here? How is it different from meminta or mengundang?

Mengajak basically means “to invite/urge someone to do something (usually together)”. It often has a sense of “come along and do this”.

Compare:

mengajak:
- Saya mengajak teman-teman membantu.
  = I invite/urge my friends to help (often with the idea we’ll do it together).
mengundang:
- Usually invite to an event.
- Kami mengundang Anda ke acara wisuda. = We invite you to the graduation ceremony.
meminta:
- to ask/request (neutral, can be quite direct)
- Saya meminta Anda membantu. = I ask you to help.
mendorong:
- to encourage (morally, psychologically)
- Guru mendorong siswa untuk belajar. = The teacher encourages students to study.

In the sentence, rektor mengajak lulusan… suggests the rector is urging or calling on the graduates to help the community, with a friendly or inclusive tone.

Is lulusan singular or plural here? How can I tell?

Lulusan by itself can mean “a graduate” or “graduates” depending on context; Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plural.

From verb lulus (to pass/graduate) → lulusan (graduate / graduates).

Here, because it’s a rector addressing graduation, lulusan is clearly plural (“the graduates”).

If you want to make the plurality explicit and formal, you can say:

para lulusan = the graduates (very clearly plural, formal)

So:

rektor mengajak lulusan… = the rector invites (the) graduates… (plural by context)
rektor mengajak para lulusan… = the rector invites the graduates (more explicit/formal).

Why is it kaya maupun miskin and not kaya dan miskin or kaya atau miskin?

Maupun is used in patterns like “whether X or Y, both are included”.

kaya maupun miskin ≈ “rich or poor alike / whether rich or poor”.
It emphasizes inclusiveness of both categories.

Comparisons:

kaya dan miskin = rich and poor (just states both together, less of the “whether… or…” nuance).
kaya atau miskin = rich or poor (can sound like choosing one or the other, not necessarily “both groups included”).

In this kind of sentence, kaya maupun miskin is a standard, natural way to say:
“graduates, both rich and poor, are invited (all of you, regardless of wealth)”.

Can you also say baik kaya maupun miskin? How does that work?

Yes, you can say baik kaya maupun miskin, and it’s actually a very common formal pattern:

baik X maupun Y = both X and Y / whether X or Y.

For example:

Rektor mengajak lulusan, baik kaya maupun miskin, untuk membantu masyarakat.
= The rector invites graduates, both rich and poor, to help society.

In the original sentence, kaya maupun miskin is a slightly shorter, still natural variant.
The baik … maupun … pattern is a bit more explicitly balanced and often sounds more formal or more carefully structured.

Why is untuk used before membantu? Could we drop untuk?

Untuk here marks purpose:

mengajak … untuk membantu masyarakat
= invite/urge … to help society / in order to help society.

Structure: mengajak [someone] untuk [do something] is very common.

You can also say:

Rektor mengajak lulusan kaya maupun miskin membantu masyarakat.

This is also grammatically correct and means essentially the same thing.
With untuk, the purpose feels a bit more explicit and slightly more formal:
“invited (them) in order to help society”. Without untuk, it’s a little more compact and neutral.

What does masyarakat actually mean here? “Society”? “People”? “Community”?

Masyarakat is usually translated as “society”, “the public”, or “the community”.

Nuance:

It refers to people as a social group, not just random individuals.
It can mean the wider community around you, or society in general.

Quick comparisons:

orang-orang = people (individual persons, more literal)
rakyat = the people of a country (often in political/government contexts)
penduduk = inhabitants/residents (of a place)

In this sentence, membantu masyarakat is best read as:

“help the community / help society”, i.e. help the people out there, not just themselves.

Is the word order “Dalam pidatonya, rektor mengajak …” fixed? Can we move things around?

You can move the prepositional phrase around quite flexibly in Indonesian. For example:

Dalam pidatonya, rektor mengajak lulusan…
Rektor, dalam pidatonya, mengajak lulusan…
Rektor mengajak lulusan… dalam pidatonya. (less common, but possible in context)

Putting Dalam pidatonya at the beginning is very natural and common, especially in written or formal style, to set the context first (“In his speech, …”).

The basic S–V–O remains:

Subject: rektor
Verb: mengajak
Object: lulusan kaya maupun miskin
Purpose phrase: untuk membantu masyarakat

Only the adverbial phrase Dalam pidatonya is being moved for emphasis and flow.

What is the overall formality level of this sentence?

The sentence is in standard formal Indonesian. Indicators:

Vocabulary: rektor, pidato, lulusan, masyarakat are common in news, official documents, academic contexts.
Structure: It’s neatly composed, with mengajak … untuk …, and kaya maupun miskin, which are typical in formal speeches.

You would expect a sentence like this in:

Graduation speeches
News reports
Official university publications

In more casual conversation, people might say things like:

Pak rektor tadi bilang, semua lulusan, mau kaya mau miskin, diajak bantu masyarakat.

How is the structure of mengajak lulusan kaya maupun miskin untuk membantu masyarakat analyzed grammatically?

Breakdown:

mengajak = verb (to invite/urge)
lulusan kaya maupun miskin = object (the graduates, rich or poor)
untuk membantu masyarakat = purpose clause (to help society)

So:

Subject: rektor
Verb: mengajak
Object: lulusan kaya maupun miskin
Complement of purpose: untuk membantu masyarakat

This is a common pattern:

mengajak [object] untuk [verb] [object2]
- Guru mengajak siswa untuk membaca buku.
- Pemerintah mengajak warga untuk menjaga kebersihan.

Could we use other verbs like mengimbau or menganjurkan instead of mengajak? What would change?

Yes, you could use them, but the nuance shifts:

mengajak:
- Invite/urge, often with a feeling of “come along and do this”.
- Warm, inclusive.
mengimbau:
- To appeal / to call on (very common in official/government language).
- More formal, a bit distanced:
  - Presiden mengimbau masyarakat untuk tetap tenang.
menganjurkan:
- To recommend / to suggest (advisory tone).
- Less of the “let’s all do this together” feel.
  - Dokter menganjurkan pasien untuk berolahraga.

So:

Rektor mengajak lulusan…
= The rector invites/urges the graduates (more inclusive, “Let’s help them”).
Rektor mengimbau lulusan…
= The rector appeals to the graduates (more formal, official-sounding).
Rektor menganjurkan lulusan…
= The rector recommends / suggests that graduates help (softer, more advisory).