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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Daro - Matu of Malaysia

The Daro - Matu of Malaysia, numbering approximately 18,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Melanau community of central Sarawak, especially the Daro and Matu districts, whose Daro and Matu speech varieties form the distinctive Daro-Matu Melanau language. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Daro-Matu Melanau is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Daro - Matu

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Daro-Matu Melanau (dro)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 18,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG020227
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Pray for the Daro - Matu of Malaysia

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

50%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Daro-Matu Melanau
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Melanau, Daro-Matu Speakers

Media Resources in Daro-Matu Melanau:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Daro-Matu Melanau:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Daro-Matu Melanau bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Daro - Matu 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 Daro - Matu:
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 Daro - Matu of Malaysia

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
readMatthew 4:16

Pray that those who dwell in darkness and live in the land of the shadow of death may be drawn out of darkness into His marvelous light.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
readPhilippians 1:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be assured that God will complete the good work He has begun in them until the day of Christ's return.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Daro-Matu Across Countries (ROP3 - 102465) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Daro - MatuPG020227Daro - MatuMalaysia18,500No Longer UnreachedDaro-Matu MelanauSunni 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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