Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan.

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually come after the noun phrase they refer to.

So:

• lesen perniagaan ini = this business license

Not:

• ini lesen perniagaan in normal noun phrase use

A helpful pattern is:

• noun + ini = this noun
• noun + itu = that noun

If the noun has modifiers, ini usually comes after the whole noun phrase:

• lesen perniagaan ini = this business license
• rumah besar itu = that big house

Lesen perniagaan is a noun phrase meaning business license.

It is made up of:

• lesen = license
• perniagaan = business

Malay often forms this kind of expression by putting two nouns together, where the second noun describes the first.

So:

• lesen perniagaan = license for business / business license

This is very common in Malay:

• kad pengenalan = identity card
• rumah sewa = rental house
• pusat bandar = city center

Diperlukan means is needed, is required, or is necessary in this sentence.

It comes from the root:

• perlu = need / necessary

With added affixes:

• di- often marks a passive form
• -kan is a suffix that can help form verbs with a causative or transitive sense

So diperlukan is a passive-style form meaning something like:

• is needed
• is required

In this sentence, the subject is lesen perniagaan ini, so the meaning is:

• This business license is required

It is passive because the sentence focuses on the thing that is needed, not on who needs it.

Compare:

• Kami memerlukan lesen perniagaan ini.
  = We need this business license.

• Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan.
  = This business license is required / needed.

The second version is useful when the person who needs it is unimportant, obvious, or intentionally left unstated. This is very common in formal Malay, especially in notices, regulations, instructions, and official writing.

The sentence does not say explicitly.

That is one reason Malay uses this passive form: the doer can be left unstated when it is:

• unknown
• obvious from context
• not important
• intentionally omitted for a formal or official tone

In context, it might mean something like:

• required by the authorities
• needed for an application
• needed by a company or applicant

If you really want to mention the agent, Malay can use oleh, but in many cases it sounds less natural or less necessary:

• Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan oleh syarikat tersebut.
  = This business license is needed by that company.

Yes, you often can.

• Lesen perniagaan ini perlu.
• Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan.

Both can mean roughly This business license is required, but there is a difference in style and feel.

Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan:

• more formal
• more common in official or written contexts
• sounds more complete and polished

Lesen perniagaan ini perlu:

• shorter
• more conversational in some contexts
• can sound slightly less formal

In notices, regulations, forms, and administrative language, diperlukan is very common.

Malay often does not use a separate word equivalent to English is / am / are in simple statements.

So Malay can say:

• Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan.

without needing a word like is in the middle.

This is normal in Malay. Other examples:

• Dia guru. = He/She is a teacher.
• Rumah itu besar. = That house is big.
• Buku ini mahal. = This book is expensive.

Sometimes Malay uses words like ialah or adalah, but not in a sentence like this.

Because adalah is generally not used before verbs like diperlukan.

This sentence is fine as:

• Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan.

Not normally:

• Lesen perniagaan ini adalah diperlukan.

That sounds unnatural.

A useful rule for learners:

• adalah is mainly used before noun phrases or certain formal predicate structures
• it is not usually used before ordinary verbs or adjectives in normal sentences

So for this sentence, no adalah is needed.

Not directly. Malay does not have articles that work exactly like English a/an and the.

Whether something is definite or indefinite is usually understood from context or shown in other ways.

In this sentence:

• lesen perniagaan ini

is clearly definite because ini means this, so it refers to a specific business license.

If you removed ini, then:

• Lesen perniagaan diperlukan.

could mean something more general, like A business license is required or Business licenses are required, depending on context.

No, lesen is a borrowed word, originally from English license/licence.

This is common in Malay. Many administrative, legal, technical, and modern terms are loanwords, though they are adapted to Malay spelling and pronunciation.

For example:

• lesen
• bank
• polis
• universiti

Even though lesen comes from English historically, it behaves like a normal Malay noun.

It sounds formal to neutral, and especially natural in:

• official notices
• forms
• government or legal contexts
• business or administrative writing

Because of diperlukan, it has a slightly official tone.

For everyday speech, someone might say:

• Kena ada lesen perniagaan ini.
• Perlu lesen perniagaan ini.
• Kita perlukan lesen perniagaan ini.

Those are more conversational, but the original sentence is very appropriate in formal writing.

If you remove ini, the sentence becomes more general.

• Lesen perniagaan ini diperlukan.
  = This business license is required.

• Lesen perniagaan diperlukan.
  = A business license is required / Business licenses are required.

So ini points to a specific license, while without ini the statement becomes broader and less specific.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

• lesen → LEH-sen
• perniagaan → per-nee-ah-GAH-an
• ini → ee-nee
• diperlukan → dee-per-loo-KAHN

So the whole sentence is approximately:

• LEH-sen per-nee-ah-GAH-an ee-nee dee-per-loo-KAHN

Malay pronunciation is generally quite regular, and each vowel is usually pronounced clearly. The spelling is a good guide to pronunciation.