actually sir almost all the time we use 'arah' for the word 'direction'... mata angin normally will be used to gether with arah to indicate the source direction of wind.. here is an example..' arah mata angin adalah dari selatan' the source direction of the blowing wind is from the south' but when you exclude mata from the arah mata angin then it means the direction where the wind is heading..here again another example.. arah angin adalah ke selatan...the wind direction is toward the south...mata means eye/eyes..but when you use it in combination with nouns of something flowing it means the source of that things..mata air is for the source of flowing water (it is a spring, of course we never see a faucet thousands years ago).. today when you to sound a little bit poetic you may use the word mata air for a girl whom you are in love with.. it means she is the source of something you need like water (in this case is her love)

Not really. We cannot take the literal word-by-word translation here. "Mata angin" refers to the directions indicated on a compass. Most of the time, we use it with the word "arah" (arah mata angin).