Anak perempuan saya duduk di riba nenek sambil memeluk bantal kecilnya.

It literally means my female child, but in normal usage it very often means my daughter.

• anak = child
• perempuan = female / girl / woman
• anak perempuan = daughter

So anak perempuan saya is a very standard and natural way to say my daughter.

There is also puteri/putri, but that is less neutral in everyday conversation and can sound more formal or literary in some contexts.

In Malay, possession usually works as:

thing possessed + possessor

So:

• anak perempuan saya = my daughter
• literally: daughter my

This is normal Malay word order. More examples:

• rumah saya = my house
• ibu saya = my mother
• buku Ali = Ali's book

So unlike English, Malay usually does not put the equivalent of my before the noun.

Yes. duduk di riba nenek means sit on grandmother's lap.

Breakdown:

• duduk = sit / be sitting
• di = at / in / on, depending on context
• riba = lap
• nenek = grandmother / grandma

So the phrase literally looks like sit at/in grandma's lap, but the natural English translation is sit on grandma's lap.

di is the usual preposition for location: at / in / on.

Here it marks where the daughter is sitting:

• di riba nenek = on grandma's lap

Malay di is broader than any one single English preposition. English chooses on, but Malay uses di because it simply marks location.

Compare:

• di rumah = at home / in the house
• di meja = on the table / at the table
• di sekolah = at school

This is a very natural kind of omission in Malay. The sentence says:

• anak perempuan saya = my daughter
• di riba nenek = on grandmother's lap

From context, many learners will understand nenek as the grandmother relevant to the situation, very likely her grandmother or my mother/mother-in-law, depending on context.

Malay often leaves some relationships implicit if they are easy to understand. If you want to be more explicit, you could say:

• di riba neneknya = on her grandmother's lap
• di riba nenek saya = on my grandmother's lap / my mother as grandma, depending on context

So the version in the sentence is not wrong; it is just less explicit.

sambil means while or at the same time as.

It links two actions happening together:

• duduk di riba nenek = sitting on grandma's lap
• sambil memeluk bantal kecilnya = while hugging her small pillow

So sambil is very useful when one action happens during another action.

Examples:

• Dia makan sambil menonton TV. = He/She eats while watching TV.
• Mereka berjalan sambil berbual. = They walk while chatting.

peluk is the root word, meaning hug.

memeluk is the verb form used here. The prefix meN- creates an active verb, and with peluk it becomes memeluk.

So:

• peluk = hug (root/base)
• memeluk = to hug / hugging

This is a very common pattern in Malay. Some examples:

• baca → membaca = read / reading
• bawa → membawa = bring / bringing
• pakai → memakai = wear / use / wearing

In this sentence, memeluk is the natural verb form after sambil.

It means his/her small pillow, and in this sentence most likely her small pillow.

Breakdown:

• bantal = pillow
• kecil = small
• -nya = his / her / its

So:

• bantal kecilnya = his/her small pillow

The -nya is attached to the last word in the noun phrase, which is very normal in Malay.

Compare:

• bukunya = his/her book
• rumah besarnya = his/her big house
• anak kecilnya = his/her small child

Because in Malay, the possessive marker can attach to the end of the whole noun phrase, not just directly to the noun.

So:

• bantal kecilnya = his/her small pillow

This is understood as:

• [bantal kecil] + nya

not necessarily as smallness belonging to someone.

Malay often puts the possessor marker at the end of the full phrase:

• kereta merahnya = his/her red car
• rumah barunya = his/her new house
• adik lelakinya = his/her younger brother

So bantal kecilnya is completely normal.

Most likely it refers to anak perempuan saya, so the meaning is probably her small pillow.

The ending -nya can mean:

• his
• her
• its

Malay does not mark gender here, so you figure it out from context. Since the sentence begins with my daughter, the most natural reading is that she is hugging her small pillow.

Because Malay often does not use articles or the verb to be the way English does.

In English, you might expect something like:

• My daughter is sitting on her grandmother's lap while hugging her small pillow.

Malay does not need separate words for a/the in most cases, and it often omits is/are when describing states or situations.

So the sentence can simply be:

• Anak perempuan saya duduk di riba nenek sambil memeluk bantal kecilnya.

This is one reason Malay sentences can look very compact to English speakers.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So duduk by itself can mean:

• sits
• is sitting
• sat

depending on context.

In this sentence, the most natural interpretation is present-time or present-progressive:

• is sitting

If you wanted to make the ongoing action more explicit, you could say:

• Anak perempuan saya sedang duduk di riba nenek...

where sedang makes the ongoing aspect clearer.

Yes, it is natural. A native speaker could say it exactly like this.

Possible variations might include:

• Anak perempuan saya sedang duduk di riba nenek sambil memeluk bantal kecilnya.
• Anak perempuan saya duduk di riba neneknya sambil memeluk bantal kecil.

But the original sentence is already normal and understandable. The main thing to notice is how Malay expresses:

• possession: anak perempuan saya
• location: di riba nenek
• simultaneous action: sambil memeluk
• possession again: bantal kecilnya