Tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar ialah melindungi semua golongan dalam masyarakat.

The main purpose of environmental laws is to protect all groups in society.

Breakdown of Tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar ialah melindungi semua golongan dalam masyarakat.

• adalah: to be
• semua: all
• dalam: in
• utama: main
• tujuan: the purpose
• masyarakat: the society
• undang-undang: the law
• alam sekitar: the environment
• melindungi: to protect
• golongan: the group

Questions & Answers about Tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar ialah melindungi semua golongan dalam masyarakat.

What is the word-by-word breakdown of this sentence?

Sentence: Tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar ialah melindungi semua golongan dalam masyarakat.

• tujuan – purpose, aim
• utama – main, primary
• undang-undang – law / laws (legal rules)
• alam – nature
• sekitar – surrounding / around
• alam sekitar – the environment
• ialah – is (linking verb / copula)
• melindungi – to protect
• semua – all
• golongan – groups, categories, segments (of people)
• dalam – in, within
• masyarakat – society, community

Natural translation: “The main purpose of environmental laws is to protect all groups in society.”

Why is undang-undang written with a hyphen and repeated? Does it mean plural?

• The base word is undang (rule, law).
• Reduplication with a hyphen undang-undang is the standard noun meaning “law” (as a system) or “laws”.
• In practice, undang-undang is treated as a single vocabulary item meaning “law(s)” rather than a literal plural.
• Malay usually does not mark plural with -s like English; plurality is understood from context or words like semua (all), banyak (many), etc.
• So undang-undang can be translated as “law” (as a general concept) or “laws” depending on the context. Here, “environmental laws” is the most natural.

What does alam sekitar literally mean, and is it the normal way to say “environment”?

• alam = nature, the natural world.
• sekitar = around, surrounding.
• alam sekitar literally = “surrounding nature” or “the surroundings (of nature)”, which corresponds to “the environment”.
• Yes, alam sekitar is a very common, standard way to say “environment”, especially in everyday language and education.
• You may also see persekitaran (another common word for “environment”), and in very formal / technical contexts, terms like alam sekitar hidup or sekitaran may appear, but alam sekitar is perfectly natural and common.

Why is utama placed after tujuan? Can we say utama tujuan?

• In Malay, descriptive words (adjectives) usually come after the noun they modify.
  • tujuan utama = main purpose
  • rumah besar = big house
  • masalah penting = important problem
• So the natural order is tujuan utama, not utama tujuan.
• Utama tujuan would sound wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Malay.

What does ialah mean here, and how is it different from adalah?

• ialah and adalah are both linking words similar to “is / are” in English, especially in formal Malay.
• Rough guideline (not absolute, but useful):
  • ialah is preferred when the part after it is a noun phrase (a thing).
    • Tujuan utama … ialah melindungi…
    • Masalah utama ialah kekurangan dana.
  • adalah is more often used when the part after it is:
    • an adjective:
      
      • Masalah itu adalah serius. (That problem is serious.)
    • a prepositional phrase:
      
      • Pusat itu adalah di Kuala Lumpur.
• Both are often interchangeable in casual writing, but in this sentence:
  • ialah before melindungi semua golongan… (a verb phrase functioning as a “thing”, like in English “the purpose is to protect…”) is very natural.
• You cannot usually drop ialah/adalah in this kind of formal, explanatory definition.

Why is it melindungi and not untuk melindungi (“to protect”)?

• melindungi is a verb in the “meN-” form, roughly “to protect / protecting”.
• After tujuan … ialah, Malay can directly use a verb in “meN-” form to express purpose:
  • Tujuan utama undang-undang… ialah melindungi…
    = “The main purpose … is to protect…”
• You could say:
  • Tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar ialah untuk melindungi semua golongan…
• The version with untuk is also correct and common.
  
  • untuk explicitly marks purpose, similar to “in order to”.
• The difference is very small in meaning; the original sentence is slightly more compact and formal-sounding, but both are fine.

What is the base form of melindungi, and what does the me- prefix do?

• Base root: lindung = shelter, shield, protection.
• melindungi is formed from meN-
  • lindung
    • -i, giving:
      • melindungi = to protect / to shield / to safeguard (something or someone).
• The meN- prefix generally:
  • Turns a root into an active verb:
    
    • lindung → melindungi (protect)
    • ajar → mengajar (teach)
    • baca → membaca (read)
• The -i suffix often implies doing the action to / for something/someone.
• Related passive form:
  • dilindungi = to be protected
    
    • Semua golongan dalam masyarakat perlu dilindungi.
      = “All groups in society need to be protected.”

What exactly does semua golongan mean, and how is it different from semua orang or setiap golongan?

• semua golongan:
  • semua = all
  • golongan = groups, segments, categories (especially social groups)
  • So semua golongan = all (social) groups / all segments (of society).
• semua orang:
  • orang = person / people
  • semua orang = everyone / all people (emphasis on individuals, not categories).
• setiap golongan:
  • setiap = each, every (one by one)
  • setiap golongan = each group, viewing them individually.
• Nuance:
  • semua golongan dalam masyarakat focuses on all categories or segments of society (e.g. rich/poor, young/old, different communities).
  • It fits well with law/policy language, which often talks about groups rather than just individuals.

Why is it dalam masyarakat and not di masyarakat? What’s the difference between dalam and di here?

• di = at / in / on (location marker).
• dalam = in, inside, within (often a bit more “inside/within” in meaning).
• In many cases, di dalam and dalam can overlap.
• Phrases:
  • dalam masyarakat = in society / within society.
  • It’s a very standard collocation in abstract contexts (values, roles, groups within society).
• di masyarakat is not a natural phrase for this meaning.
• You might see:
  • di dalam masyarakat (a bit more formal, literally “inside society”), which is close in meaning to dalam masyarakat.
• So for this sentence, dalam masyarakat is the normal and correct choice.

How is the long noun phrase tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar structured?

The structure is layered from left (main noun) to right (more specific information):

1. tujuan – purpose
2. tujuan utama – main purpose
3. tujuan utama undang-undang – the main purpose of the law(s)
4. tujuan utama undang-undang alam sekitar – the main purpose of environmental laws

So in English we say “the main purpose of environmental laws”, but in Malay it naturally stacks as:

[tujuan utama] [undang-undang alam sekitar]

No extra word like “of” is needed; the relationship is understood by the order of the nouns.