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The Malays of Myanmar

The Malays of Myanmar, numbering approximately 27,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Malay community descended primarily from settlers from the northern Malay Peninsula that preserves its Malay heritage and maintains cultural ties to the wider Malay world along Myanmar's southern coast. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Malay (individual language) is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Malay
Primary Language(s): Malay (individual language) (zlm)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 27,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG009476
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Pray for the Malays of Myanmar

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malay (individual language)
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malay Speakers

Media Resources in Malay (individual language):

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film
The Savior View Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malay (individual language):

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
2001 Today's Malay Version ✓ ✓
Alkitab Versi Borneo ✓ ✓ ✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malay (individual language) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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 Recent 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 Malays:
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

Pray specifically for the Malays of Myanmar

That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:27

Pray that those who don't yet know Christ will search diligently for God and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
readMark 10:14b

Praise Jesus for the way He loves children, asking that many will learn the truth about Him and come to Him unhindered.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
readColossians 4:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be wise in the way they walk with the lost and manage their time and other resources in a way that honors God.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

Malay Across Countries (ROP3 - 106144) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

10 people groups

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▼ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Malays PG020134 Malays Malaysia 13,670,000 Engaged yet Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG010713 Malays Singapore 746,000 Engaged yet Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG006435 Malays Sri Lanka 73,500 Unengaged and Unreached Sri Lankan Creole Malay Sunni Islam
Malays PG000656 Malays United Kingdom 56,000 Engaged yet Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG009476 Malays Myanmar 27,000 Unengaged and Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG007977 Malays Australia 21,500 Engaged yet Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG043435 Malays Canada 11,500 Unengaged and Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG043339 Malays United States 10,500 Unengaged and Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG015276 Malays Comoros 1,100 Engaged yet Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam
Malays PG015369 Malays Mayotte 325 Engaged yet Unreached Malay (individual language) Sunni Islam

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 Data Standards section.

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