Vertaling - Maleisisch-Engels - de sekeras itu kah hati k3 mu .dia ga ...

Hi gbernsdorff,

...he doesn't want to explain (what?)

That is not clear. Menjelaskan is the verb. *pdlk* must be the direct object, if any. I have encountered that once as an abbreviation for *perjalanan dinas luar kota* [out of town duty trip], but I can't be sure.

Perhaps "explain himself'?

You are suggesting *to explain* in the sense of *to account for something/to justify oneself*. That is one possible interpretation, but the text doesn't say so, for that would be *menjelaskan diri sendiri*. I don't see how that could be abbreviated to pdlk.

In your opinion, in what sense is 'explain' used here?

One of two possibilities. Either, as you suggested, explain oneself/justify oneself, or answer a specific question which has been asked before and therefore is known to the addressee. Yet another possibility would be that *pdlk* is a typo for *pdk* [l and k are next to each other on the keyboard!], in which case it would mean menjelaskan padaku/explain to me. *pdk* is quite frequent as an abbreviation in Malay textese. - Yes indeed, that may be the best option. I see that I even interpreted the last word (pdlku) as *padaku/to me*. Should have thought of that before! I have changed the translation accordingly.

OK, but that doesn't solve the problem of the missing direct object yet.
We still don't know 'what' is not explained.

Do we need to know ? If we take it that pdlk means "to me" there really is no other indication in the Malay text as to what he doesn't want to explain. Is that a problem ? Both Malay 'menjelaskan' and English 'to explain' can be used as intransitive verbs i.e. without a direct object. É parecido em português não é? Podemos dizer 'Prefiro não explicar.' sem acrescentar o que já se sabe. Ou será que me engano?
Regards, Guido

'explain' as intransitive verb implies 'explain oneself', otherwise, it is transitive.
You could use it that way, but then it should read:
"He doesn't want to listen to me or explain himself"

What do you think?

Thank you all
But I am really quite ignorant of the Malay language

Once we have decided that pdlk must be padaku i.e. an indirect object, there is no other word or abbreviation that could function as a direct object. Intransitiviy can be made explicit by saying menjelaskan diri sendiri/explain himself. Transitivity can be made explicit by attaching
-nya (menjelaskannya/explain it). The Malay text does neither, it gives us no clue as to the (in)transitivity of the verb. The English translation should leave that question open too, hence: we leave it as it is, we do not add either the reflexive pronoun nor a direct object.