Pengerusi mendengar bantahan penduduk.

The sentence follows the usual Malay order:

Subject + Verb + Object

• Pengerusi = subject
• mendengar = verb
• bantahan penduduk = object

So it works very much like English word order here.

Malay usually does not use articles like the, a, or an.

So:

• pengerusi can mean the chairperson or a chairperson
• bantahan penduduk can mean the residents' objection(s) or residents' objection(s)

The exact meaning depends on context. English often has to add an article even when Malay does not.

Dengar is the root word, and mendengar is the active verb form built with the meN- prefix.

In standard Malay:

• dengar = the root
• mendengar = to hear / to listen to

Using mendengar makes the sentence sound normal and grammatical in formal or neutral Malay. In casual speech, people may sometimes say dengar, but mendengar is the standard form.

Because mendengar can take a direct object in Malay.

So Malay says:

• mendengar bantahan penduduk

Literally, that is structured more like:

• hear/listen-to the residents' objections

English needs to after listen, but Malay does not add a separate word there.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• hear suggests receiving sound
• listen to suggests paying attention intentionally

In this sentence, because the object is bantahan penduduk, English will often translate it as heard or listened to the residents' objections/protest. Both can work, depending on the context and tone.

Bantahan is a noun formed from the root bantah, which means to object, to protest, or to oppose.

So:

• bantah = object / protest
• bantahan = objection, protest, opposition

The ending -an often helps form nouns in Malay. Here it turns the action or idea into a thing: an objection / a protest.

Yes. In Malay, the modifying noun usually comes after the main noun.

So:

• bantahan penduduk = the residents' objections / the objection of the residents

This is a very common Malay pattern:

• rumah Ali = Ali's house
• suara pelajar = the students' voice / the voice of the students
• bantahan penduduk = the residents' objection(s)

Malay does not use an apostrophe like English does.

By itself, penduduk does not have to show singular or plural.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• resident
• residents
• inhabitants
• the local population

In this sentence, English will most naturally read it as residents. If Malay wants to make the singular especially clear, it can say something like seorang penduduk.

No, not by the verb form itself. Malay verbs do not change the way English verbs do for tense.

So mendengar can fit different times depending on context:

• heard
• hears
• is hearing / is listening to

If Malay wants to make time clearer, it usually adds a time word or marker, such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sudah = already
• sedang = currently

Without extra context, the sentence is simply neutral about time.

Yes, historically it is related.

• kerusi = chair
• pengerusi = chairperson / chairman / chair

So pengerusi is not the piece of furniture here. It means the person who chairs a meeting or organization.

In modern Malay, learners should treat pengerusi as a normal vocabulary word meaning chairperson.