Dia kelihatan kacak.

Yes. Dia is gender-neutral in Malay, so it can mean he or she.

In this sentence, learners usually interpret it as he because kacak means handsome, which is normally used for men. If you were talking about a woman, you would more naturally use words like cantik or jelita.

Kelihatan means something like looks, appears, or seems.

So in Dia kelihatan kacak, it expresses how someone appears to the speaker: he looks handsome.

It is related to lihat (to see), but kelihatan is not simply sees. In this sentence, it describes outward appearance or impression.

Malay often uses this pattern:

subject + appearance/seeming verb + adjective

So:

• Dia = he/she
• kelihatan = looks/appears
• kacak = handsome

Literally, it is close to He appears handsome or He looks handsome.

This is a very normal word order in Malay.

Malay often does not use a verb like is/am/are in the same way English does.

For example:

• Dia kacak = He is handsome

In your sentence, kelihatan already functions as the main verb meaning looks/appears, so no separate is is needed.

There is a small but important difference:

• Dia kacak = He is handsome
• Dia kelihatan kacak = He looks handsome / He appears handsome

The first is a more direct statement about him.
The second focuses more on how he seems or looks at that moment, or from the speaker’s point of view.

So kelihatan adds a sense of appearance or impression.

They are similar, and in many situations both can be translated as looks or appears.

For example:

• Dia kelihatan kacak
• Dia nampak kacak

Both can mean He looks handsome.

But there is a difference in tone:

• kelihatan often sounds a bit more neutral, formal, or written
• nampak is very common in everyday speech and can sound more conversational

In casual spoken Malay, many people would naturally say Dia nampak kacak.

This is a vocabulary-and-word-formation question.

The root is lihat (see).
With the pattern ke- ... -an, it becomes kelihatan, which has developed the meaning to be seen, to appear, or to look.

So you do not need to analyze it every time you see it; it is best learned as a whole word:

• lihat = see
• kelihatan = appear / be visible / look

This kind of form is common in Malay, where affixes change the function and meaning of a root.

Usually, kacak is used for males and means handsome.

For females, Malay more commonly uses words such as:

• cantik = beautiful / pretty
• jelita = very beautiful
• manis = sweet-looking, pleasant-looking

So dia kelihatan kacak strongly suggests that dia is male.

You would usually say:

Dia tidak kelihatan kacak.
= He does not look handsome.

In informal speech, tidak is often shortened to tak:

Dia tak kelihatan kacak.

If you remove kelihatan, you can also say:

Dia tidak kacak.
= He is not handsome.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Dia → dee-ah
• kelihatan → kuh-lee-ha-tan
• kacak → ka-chak

A rough full reading:

dee-ah kuh-lee-ha-tan ka-chak

A few notes:

• c in Malay is pronounced like ch in chair
• each vowel is usually pronounced clearly
• Malay pronunciation is generally quite regular compared with English

Yes. A common way is:

Dia kelihatan sangat kacak.
= He looks very handsome.

Here:

• sangat = very

You can also hear:

Dia kelihatan begitu kacak.
= He looks so handsome.

So the adjective can be modified just like in English.

It is generally neutral and perfectly natural.

• Dia kelihatan kacak sounds fine in writing and speech
• Dia nampak kacak sounds a bit more conversational

So if you are learning standard Malay, Dia kelihatan kacak is a good sentence to know.