Jarak penglihatan sangat rendah.

A quick breakdown:

• jarak = distance
• penglihatan = sight, vision, or visibility-related seeing
• sangat = very
• rendah = low

So the structure is basically:

• jarak penglihatan = visibility distance / viewing distance
• sangat rendah = very low

Even if the overall meaning is already known, it helps to see that the sentence is built from a noun phrase plus an adjective phrase.

Because Malay often leaves out the verb to be in simple descriptive sentences.

So instead of saying something like Visibility distance is very low, Malay simply says:

• Jarak penglihatan sangat rendah

This is completely normal. In everyday Malay, you do not need a separate word for is here.

A learner often expects something like adalah, but that would usually sound too formal or unnatural in this sentence.

Not exactly.

• lihat is the basic verb root meaning see
• penglihatan is a noun formed from that root, meaning vision, sight, or visibility-related seeing

So:

• lihat = to see
• penglihatan = vision / sight / visibility

This is a very common pattern in Malay, where prefixes and suffixes turn a root into a noun.

It comes from the root lihat with added morphology:

• peng-
  • lihat
    • -an → penglihatan

This kind of formation often creates a noun related to an action, process, or result.

In this case, penglihatan refers to sight/vision rather than the act to see.

For learners, the important takeaway is:

• lihat = verb
• penglihatan = noun

Because Malay adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• jarak penglihatan = the noun phrase
• rendah = the adjective describing it

This is different from English, where adjectives usually come before nouns. English says low visibility, but Malay tends to say the equivalent of visibility low.

That word order is one of the most important habits to get used to in Malay.

Because rendah is the natural word for something being low in level, amount, or degree.

In this sentence, the idea is that the visibility level is low, so rendah fits well.

Compare:

• rendah = low level / low value / low degree
• pendek = short in length or height
• kecil = small

So although English might talk about short visibility distance in some contexts, Malay usually expresses this as low visibility with rendah.

That is why sangat rendah sounds natural here.

Sangat usually goes before the adjective or adverb it modifies.

So:

• sangat rendah = very low

That is the normal placement.

Other common intensifier patterns include:

• amat rendah = very low, a bit more formal
• rendah sekali = very low
• terlalu rendah = too low

For this sentence, sangat rendah is the most straightforward and natural choice.

It is a natural expression, especially in formal or practical contexts such as weather, traffic, aviation, and safety.

You may also see:

• jarak pandang = visibility distance / visible range
• visibiliti = visibility, a borrowed word from English

Notes:

• jarak pandang is very common in reports and notices
• visibiliti is also used, especially in technical or modern contexts
• jarak penglihatan is understandable and natural, though it can sound slightly more formal or descriptive

So this sentence is good Malay, but it is not the only possible phrasing.

Normally, Jarak penglihatan sangat rendah refers to visibility conditions, such as fog, smoke, heavy rain, or other situations where you cannot see far.

It does not usually mean that a person's eyesight is poor.

If you want to talk about a person's eyesight, Malay would normally use other expressions, such as:

• Penglihatannya lemah = His/Her eyesight is weak
• Penglihatannya buruk = His/Her eyesight is poor
• Dia rabun = He/She is short-sighted / has poor vision

So context matters, but this sentence is most naturally understood as talking about environmental visibility.

Yes. Adding itu makes the noun phrase more specific:

• Jarak penglihatan sangat rendah = Visibility is very low
• Jarak penglihatan itu sangat rendah = That visibility distance is very low / The visibility is very low

Without itu, the sentence sounds more general and report-like.
With itu, it points to a specific situation already known in the conversation.

Both are grammatical; the version without itu is very common in announcements and reports.