The Pasemah of Indonesia

The Pasemah of Indonesia, numbering approximately 371,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an indigenous community of Indonesia; a dialect subgroup of Central Malay (pse) They are an Indigenous people, with Pasemah as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Pasemah of Sumatra people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Malay, Central.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Pasemah

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Pasemah of Sumatra
Primary Language(s): Malay, Central (pse)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 371,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022526

Pray for the Pasemah of Indonesia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

97%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malay, Central
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%

Media Resources in Malay, Central:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Malay, Central:

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Or check out the Malay, Central bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Pasemah:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Pasemah are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Pasemah:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Pasemah are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Pasemah:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Pasemah of Indonesia

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
readPsalm 62:1

Pray that those who are troubled and don't know about the God who saves will hear the good news and find rest in the one true God who can offer salvation for their souls.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

As mobile phones, radio, and satellite television, and other technologies become more available worldwide, pray for people who are developing digital gospel resources so that others can easily access the gospel.

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!"
readMark 7:9

Pray that as men, women, boys, and girls place their faith in Christ, they will let go of any traditions that do not honor Him.

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way.
readPsalm 37:23

Pray that believers from near and far will serve here and trust in the Lord's timing as He establishes their steps.

Pasemah Across Countries (ROP3 - 107908) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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