Mereka mengakui pendirian itu.

Mereka means they. It does not show gender, so it can mean they for any group of people.

A few useful points:

• Malay pronouns do not change for he/she distinctions here.
• Mereka is mostly used for people, not usually for things.
• It also does not change form for subject vs object, so the same word can mean they or them depending on position in the sentence.

In this sentence, because it comes first before the verb, it is clearly the subject: they.

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

So mengakui can mean:

• admit
• admits
• admitted
• have admitted
• were admitting

The exact time is usually understood from:

• context
• time words such as semalam (yesterday), sekarang (now), esok (tomorrow)
• aspect markers such as sudah, telah, sedang, akan

So this sentence by itself leaves the time unspecified unless the surrounding context makes it clear.

Mengakui commonly means to acknowledge, to admit, or sometimes to recognize, depending on context.

With a direct object, it often has the sense of:

• admitting something as true
• acknowledging a fact, right, position, or status
• recognizing something officially or mentally

So in this sentence, it suggests that they acknowledge/admit that stance or position.

This is a very common question.

Both are related, but they are not used in exactly the same way:

• mengaku often means to admit, to confess, or to claim
• mengakui more naturally takes a direct object, especially when you are acknowledging or admitting something specific

So:

• mereka mengaku = they admit / they confess
• mereka mengakui pendirian itu = they acknowledge/admit that stance

In other words, mengakui is the better choice when the thing being acknowledged is stated directly.

It is built from the verb base mengaku / akui with the active prefix meN- pattern and the suffix -i.

A practical learner-friendly way to understand it is:

• mengaku = admit / confess / claim
• mengakui = acknowledge / admit something

The suffix -i often helps create a verb that works naturally with an object.

You do not need to over-analyze it at first; the most important thing is to learn mengakui as a common verb meaning acknowledge/admit something.

Here pendirian means something like:

• stance
• position
• stand
• viewpoint
• sometimes principled position

It does not mean physical standing here.

This word can have different meanings in different contexts, but in a sentence like this, it usually refers to a person’s or group’s position on an issue.

Because in Malay, demonstratives like ini and itu normally come after the noun.

So:

• pendirian ini = this stance
• pendirian itu = that stance

This is normal Malay word order. English puts this/that before the noun, but Malay puts ini/itu after it.

Literally, itu means that. But in real translation, pendirian itu can sometimes sound natural in English as either:

• that stance
• the stance

This is because Malay does not have articles exactly like English a/an/the. Words like itu often help make a noun phrase feel more definite or specific.

So depending on context, a translator may choose either that or the.

Yes. This is a very standard Subject-Verb-Object sentence:

• Mereka = subject
• mengakui = verb
• pendirian itu = object

So the structure is straightforward and natural.

In casual speech, people do sometimes shorten verbs and drop prefixes, so you may hear forms like mereka akui.

However:

• Mereka mengakui pendirian itu is the safer standard form
• it is better for formal writing and for learners
• the full form makes the grammar clearer

So yes, a shorter version may appear in informal usage, but the sentence you were given is the normal standard form.

You would normally add tidak before the verb:

Mereka tidak mengakui pendirian itu.

That means They do not acknowledge/admit that stance.

This is the usual Malay pattern for negating verbs:

• tidak + verb

Yes. A standard passive version would be:

Pendirian itu diakui oleh mereka.

That means That stance is acknowledged by them.

Notes:

• diakui is the passive form
• oleh means by
• in some contexts, oleh may be omitted, but keeping it is clear and standard for learners

The active sentence is usually more direct and more common in everyday use.