Sebaik sahaja pilihan raya diumumkan, kami berbincang tentang hak semua orang untuk mengundi dengan bebas.

As soon as the election is announced, we discuss everyone’s right to vote freely.

Breakdown of Sebaik sahaja pilihan raya diumumkan, kami berbincang tentang hak semua orang untuk mengundi dengan bebas.

• dengan: with
• untuk: to
• tentang: about
• semua: all
• orang: the person
• kami: we
• hak: the right
• pilihan raya: the election
• mengundi: to vote
• sebaik sahaja: as soon as
• berbincang: to discuss
• umumkan: to announce
• bebas: freely

Questions & Answers about Sebaik sahaja pilihan raya diumumkan, kami berbincang tentang hak semua orang untuk mengundi dengan bebas.

What exactly does sebaik sahaja mean, and how is it different from apabila or bila?

Sebaik sahaja literally means as soon as / the moment that. It emphasizes that one action happens immediately after another.

• Sebaik sahaja pilihan raya diumumkan
  = As soon as the election was announced

Compared with:

• Apabila / Bila pilihan raya diumumkan
  = When the election was announced (more general, not necessarily “immediately”)

So sebaik sahaja adds a stronger sense of immediacy than apabila or bila.

Why is it pilihan raya diumumkan (passive) and not something like kerajaan mengumumkan pilihan raya?

Malay often uses a passive-like structure when:

• the agent (the doer) is obvious, unimportant, or unknown, or
• the focus is on the event itself rather than who did it.

Pilihan raya diumumkan focuses on the event “the election being announced”.

If you want an explicit agent, you can say:

• Sebaik sahaja kerajaan mengumumkan pilihan raya, …
  (As soon as the government announced the election, …)

Both are correct; the original just keeps it more neutral/impersonal by not naming who announced it.

What is the difference between diumumkan and mengumumkan?

They are related forms of the same root umum (announce):

• mengumumkan = active voice (someone announces something)

  • Kerajaan mengumumkan pilihan raya.
    (The government announces the election.)

• diumumkan = passive voice (something is announced)

  • Pilihan raya diumumkan oleh kerajaan.
    (The election is announced by the government.)

The -kan here is part of the verb pattern for a transitive verb (takes an object).
Base pattern:

• umum → mengumumkan (active) → diumumkan (passive)

Can I say pilihan raya diumum without -kan, or is diumumkan the only correct form?

In standard Malay here, diumumkan is the correct and natural form.

• diumumkan is the proper passive form of mengumumkan (to announce).
• diumum does occur in some headlines or very casual speech, but it sounds abbreviated or colloquial and is less standard.

So for proper Malay, especially in writing, use diumumkan.

What is the difference between kami and kita in kami berbincang?

Both mean we, but:

• kami = we (not including the listener)
• kita = we (including the listener)

In kami berbincang, the speaker is saying:

• We discussed (but you, the person being spoken to, were not part of that group).

If the speaker wanted to include the listener, they would say:

• kita berbincang = we (you and I / all of us here) discussed

What is the nuance of berbincang compared with bincang or membincangkan?

All are related to “discuss/talk about”:

• berbincang

  • intransitive, “to have a discussion / to discuss (together)”
  • emphasizes the mutual action
  • kami berbincang = we discussed / we had a discussion

• bincang

  • base/root form; used in speech, often after helping verbs:
  • mari bincang, kita bincang hal ini
  • sounds a bit less formal than berbincang

• membincangkan

  • object
  • transitive: “to discuss (something)”
  • kami membincangkan hak semua orang
    = we discussed everyone’s rights (more formal, explicit object)

In your sentence, kami berbincang tentang … is natural and neutral/formal enough.

Why do we say berbincang tentang hak semua orang? Could we use mengenai instead of tentang?

Yes, you can. Both are common:

• tentang = about, regarding
• mengenai = about, regarding, concerning (slightly more formal)

So:

• kami berbincang tentang hak semua orang
• kami berbincang mengenai hak semua orang

Both mean: we discussed everyone’s rights.
Tentang is very widely used; mengenai can sound a bit more formal or written.

Why is it hak semua orang and not semua hak orang?

Both are grammatically possible but slightly different in feel:

• hak semua orang

  • literally: the rights of all people / everyone’s right(s)
  • focus: every person has this right

• semua hak orang

  • literally: all the rights of people
  • can sound more like the entire set of rights that people have

In the context of “the right to vote”, Malay very commonly says:

• hak semua orang untuk mengundi
  = everyone’s right to vote

So hak semua orang is the most natural phrasing here.

How does untuk mengundi work here? Is untuk just “to”, or does it show purpose?

Untuk can function like English “to” when introducing:

1. Purpose

   • Saya bekerja untuk menyara keluarga.
     = I work to support my family.

2. An infinitive-like complement (right after a noun):

   • hak semua orang untuk mengundi
     = everyone’s right to vote

Here, untuk mengundi is explaining what the right is for:

• hak … untuk mengundi = the right … to vote

So it’s similar to English “the right to vote”.

What does dengan bebas literally mean, and could we also say secara bebas?

Literally:

• dengan bebas = with freedom / freely

Malay often forms adverbs as:

• dengan
  • adjective
    
    • dengan pantas (quickly), dengan jelas (clearly), dengan bebas (freely)

You can also say:

• secara bebas = freely, in a free manner

Both are correct; dengan bebas is very natural in this context:

• mengundi dengan bebas = to vote freely

There is no past tense marker in pilihan raya diumumkan or kami berbincang. How do we know this is talking about the past?

Malay usually does not change verb forms for tense (past/present/future).
Time is understood from:

• time words (sebai­k sahaja = as soon as),
• context, or
• optional markers like sudah (already), akan (will), sedang (in the process of).

In:

• Sebaik sahaja pilihan raya diumumkan, kami berbincang …

The conjunction sebaik sahaja and the whole context imply a sequence of past events:

1. The election was announced
2. Then we discussed …

You could make the past more explicit with sudah, but it’s not necessary:

• Sebaik sahaja pilihan raya sudah diumumkan, kami pun berbincang …

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it sound natural in everyday speech?

The sentence is neutral, slightly leaning towards formal because of:

• the structure with sebaik sahaja
• passive pilihan raya diumumkan

It is perfectly natural in:

• news reports
• essays, articles
• conversations about politics in a neutral/serious tone

In more casual speech, some people might say, for example:

• Bila pilihan raya diumumkan saja, kami terus bincang pasal hak semua orang untuk mengundi dengan bebas.

But your original sentence is correct, natural Malay and suitable for most contexts.