Pindaan ditolak kecuali jika jawatankuasa bersetuju.

Ditolak is the passive form of tolak.

• tolak = to reject / to push away
• ditolak = is rejected / is being rejected / was rejected, depending on context

The prefix di- is a very common Malay passive marker. In this sentence, Pindaan ditolak means The amendment is rejected.

Malay uses passive constructions quite naturally, especially in formal writing.

Malay usually does not need a word like is/are in this kind of sentence.

So:

• Pindaan ditolak = The amendment is rejected
• not something like Pindaan adalah ditolak in normal usage

You may sometimes see adalah or ialah, but they are not used the same way as English to be, and they would not normally be used here.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Malay does not normally use articles like the or a/an. So pindaan by itself can mean:

• an amendment
• the amendment
• sometimes even amendments, if the context allows

If the speaker wants to make it more specific, they might say:

• pindaan itu = that/the amendment
• satu pindaan = one/an amendment

Kecuali jika means unless.

Literally, it is close to except if:

• kecuali = except
• jika = if

So:

• Pindaan ditolak kecuali jika jawatankuasa bersetuju = The amendment is rejected unless the committee agrees

This is a very common formal way to express unless in Malay.

Sometimes yes, but kecuali jika is clearer and more standard when you mean unless.

Compare:

• kecuali jika jawatankuasa bersetuju = unless the committee agrees
• kecuali jawatankuasa would mean something more like except the committee, which is a different structure

So in this sentence, jika is important because it introduces a condition.

Both exist, but bersetuju is more standard and formal as a verb.

• setuju can mean in agreement or agree, especially in speech
• bersetuju is the full verb form to agree

So:

• jawatankuasa bersetuju = the committee agrees

In everyday conversation, many speakers might say jawatankuasa setuju, but bersetuju sounds more polished and formal, which fits this sentence well.

Not always. The object can be left understood if the meaning is obvious from context.

Here, jawatankuasa bersetuju means something like:

• the committee agrees
• understood: agrees to it / agrees to the amendment / agrees to the proposal

If you want to make it explicit, you could say:

• jawatankuasa bersetuju dengan pindaan itu = the committee agrees with the amendment
• jawatankuasa bersetuju untuk menerima pindaan itu = the committee agrees to accept the amendment

Grammatically, jawatankuasa is usually treated as a singular noun meaning committee.

Malay nouns generally do not change form for singular vs. plural, so context is important. In most cases:

• jawatankuasa = committee
• if needed, plurality can be shown by context or by reduplication, though that would be unusual here

In this sentence, the natural reading is singular: the committee.

Not explicitly. Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So ditolak and bersetuju do not themselves tell you whether something is present, past, or future. The time is usually understood from context.

Depending on context, this sentence could mean:

• The amendment is rejected unless the committee agrees
• The amendment will be rejected unless the committee agrees
• The amendment was rejected unless the committee agreed
  although this last one would usually need clearer context

Without extra time words, the English translation usually uses the present tense for a general rule or formal statement.

Yes. The root tolak has a basic physical sense of push or push away, but in many contexts it also means reject, turn down, or refuse.

So ditolak can mean:

• pushed
• pushed away
• rejected
• turned down

In this sentence, because the subject is pindaan (amendment), the meaning is clearly rejected.

Malay often begins with the topic or subject being discussed. Here, the focus is on the amendment, so the sentence starts with:

• Pindaan ditolak = The amendment is rejected

Then the condition is added:

• kecuali jika jawatankuasa bersetuju = unless the committee agrees

This order is very natural and formal in Malay.

Yes. If you want to say who rejects the amendment, you can add oleh.

For example:

• Pindaan ditolak oleh dewan = The amendment is rejected by the assembly
• Pindaan itu ditolak oleh jawatankuasa = The amendment is rejected by the committee

In your sentence, the agent is not stated, because the important point is the condition: rejection happens unless the committee agrees.

Yes, it sounds fairly formal and would fit well in contexts like:

• meetings
• committee procedures
• legal or administrative writing
• parliamentary discussion

Words like pindaan, ditolak, kecuali jika, and bersetuju all fit a formal register.

In casual speech, people might use simpler wording, but this version is natural for official language.

Potentially, yes, because Malay nouns usually do not mark plural automatically.

So pindaan can sometimes mean:

• amendment
• amendments

But in this sentence, the most natural reading is singular unless the wider context clearly shows multiple amendments.

If Malay wants to emphasize plural, it might use context or sometimes reduplication:

• pindaan-pindaan = amendments

However, in formal writing, Malay often leaves number to context.

Grammatically, both can mean if, but jika is more formal.

• jika = formal/written if
• kalau = everyday spoken if

So in a formal sentence like this, kecuali jika is the better choice.
Kecuali kalau might appear in speech, but it would sound less formal.

You could add itu after the nouns:

• Pindaan itu ditolak kecuali jika jawatankuasa itu bersetuju.

This would mean something like:

• That/The amendment is rejected unless that/the committee agrees.

Usually, though, you would only add itu when you really need that extra definiteness. In many contexts, the shorter original sentence is more natural.