Malam ini saya terjaga sekali lagi apabila lampu berkedip dan bayi itu menangis dalam buaian.

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Breakdown of Malam ini saya terjaga sekali lagi apabila lampu berkedip dan bayi itu menangis dalam buaian.

• itu: that
• malam ini: tonight
• dan: and

Questions & Answers about Malam ini saya terjaga sekali lagi apabila lampu berkedip dan bayi itu menangis dalam buaian.

Why does the sentence start with Malam ini?

Malam ini is a time expression, and in Malay, time expressions are very often placed at the beginning of the sentence to set the scene.

So:

• Malam ini = tonight
• then the rest of the sentence tells what happened

This is very natural in Malay. You could also move the time phrase later in some contexts, but starting with it sounds smooth and common.

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What exactly does terjaga mean here? Is it the same as bangun?

Not quite.

• bangun usually means to get up / wake up
• terjaga often means to become awake suddenly or to find oneself awake

In this sentence, terjaga suggests the speaker was asleep and then woke up, probably because of the flickering light and the crying baby.

The prefix ter- here can give a sense of something happening unintentionally or unexpectedly. So saya terjaga feels a bit like:

• I woke up suddenly
• I was awakened
• I found myself awake

It is slightly different from just saya bangun, which can sound more neutral or deliberate.

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Why is sekali lagi used? Does it just mean again?