Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Di beberapa daerah miskin, krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas, sudah muncul masalah iklim lain. - In some poor areas, the clean-water crisis has only just begun to be discussed, and other climate problems have already appeared.

di sounds more natural and neutral in everyday and journalistic style.
pada is often a bit more formal/abstract, and used more with:
- time (pada tahun 2020),
- more abstract “targets” (pada kesempatan ini),
- certain fixed expressions.

In this sentence, di is the most typical and natural choice.

Why is it “daerah miskin” and not “miskin daerah”? Where do adjectives go?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun:

daerah miskin = poor area(s)
orang kaya = rich person
rumah besar = big house

Putting the adjective before the noun (miskin daerah) is incorrect in standard Indonesian. So:

daerah miskin literally = areas that are poor.

What’s the difference between “daerah miskin” and “daerah yang miskin”?

Both are grammatically correct, but there is a nuance:

daerah miskin – short, typical noun + adjective phrase: poor areas.
daerah yang miskin – literally areas that are poor; sounds slightly more descriptive, sometimes more formal or contrastive.

In most contexts, daerah miskin is preferred for brevity and natural flow. Yang is not required here.

What does “krisis air bersih” literally mean? Why not “air yang bersih”?

krisis air bersih is a noun phrase:

krisis = crisis
air bersih = clean water
together: krisis air bersih = clean water crisis / crisis of clean water

air bersih (noun + adjective) is the normal way to say clean water.
air yang bersih is also correct, but:

air bersih = standard compact phrase, like a fixed collocation.
air yang bersih sounds a bit more like “water that is clean,” often used when you’re really describing or contrasting it.

For something like “the clean water crisis,” krisis air bersih is the natural form.

In “baru mulai dibahas”, does “baru” mean “new”? Why is it there?

Here baru does not mean “new”; it means “just / only recently / only now”:

krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas
≈ the clean water crisis has only just started to be discussed

Uses of baru:

As an adjective: new
- buku baru = new book
As an adverb/aspect marker (as here): just / only recently
- dia baru datang = he/she just arrived

In this sentence, it’s the second use: indicating that the discussion has only recently started.

Why is “dibahas” used instead of a form with me- like “membahas”?

dibahas is the passive form of membahas (to discuss).

membahas krisis air bersih = to discuss the clean water crisis (active: someone discusses it)
krisis air bersih dibahas = the clean water crisis is (being) discussed (passive: focus on the topic)

In krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas, the sentence focuses on the crisis, not on who is discussing it. Indonesian often uses this passive pattern when:

the actor is unknown, unimportant, or obvious (government, media, etc.),
the topic is what matters.

You could add an agent if you want:
krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas oleh pemerintah = has only just begun to be discussed by the government.

How do “baru” and “sudah” work together in this sentence?

They mark a contrast in timing:

baru mulai dibahas = has only just started to be discussed (late, slow).
sudah muncul = has already appeared (earlier/faster than expected).

So the structure:

… krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas, sudah muncul masalah iklim lain.

implies:

we’re late in discussing the clean water crisis,
meanwhile another climate problem has already appeared.

This is a common rhetorical pattern in Indonesian: baru … sudah … to highlight being behind or too late.

Why is it “sudah muncul masalah iklim lain” instead of “masalah iklim lain sudah muncul”? Is this word order normal?

Both orders are grammatical:

sudah muncul masalah iklim lain
masalah iklim lain sudah muncul

Differences:

sudah muncul masalah iklim lain puts emphasis first on the event (has already appeared), then introduces what has appeared.
masalah iklim lain sudah muncul starts with the thing (another climate problem), then states that it has already appeared.

The version in the sentence is stylistic/journalistic: it feels a bit more dramatic or narrative. In everyday speech, many people would more naturally say masalah iklim lain sudah muncul.

What does “masalah iklim lain” mean exactly? Is “lain” singular or plural? Why not “yang lain”?

masalah iklim lain literally:

masalah = problem
iklim = climate
lain = other / another

So it can mean:

another climate problem (often singular in context)
or other climate problems (if context clearly implies plural)

Indonesian doesn’t mark singular/plural on the noun, so it depends on context and sometimes on translation preferences.

About lain vs yang lain:

lain directly after the noun is the usual, compact form:
- masalah lain = other problem(s)
yang lain is used more when you’re contrasting or specifying:
- masalah iklim yang lain = the other climate problem(s) (more specific or contrastive)

Here, masalah iklim lain is the normal, natural phrase.

Why are there commas instead of a conjunction like “dan” or “sementara” in this long sentence?

The commas link related clauses without explicit conjunctions:

Di beberapa daerah miskin, krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas, sudah muncul masalah iklim lain.

You could expand it more explicitly as:

Di beberapa daerah miskin, ketika krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas, sudah muncul masalah iklim lain.
or …, padahal krisis air bersih baru mulai dibahas, …

Using just commas is common in written Indonesian (especially news, opinion pieces) to:

keep the sentence flowing,
imply relations like “while,” “even though,” or “by the time that,” without spelling them out.

It’s stylistically acceptable, though in careful writing you might add a connector if there’s any risk of confusion.

Where is the past tense here? How do we know this is something that has already happened?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense with verb endings like English. Instead, it uses time/aspect markers and context:

baru → just / only recently (something has just started)
sudah → already (something has already happened)

So:

baru mulai dibahas → has only just begun to be discussed.
sudah muncul → has already appeared.

These words, plus context like di beberapa daerah miskin, make it clear we’re talking about real-world situations that are in progress or have recently happened, roughly like English present perfect (has just started, has already appeared).