The Biatah of Malaysia

The Biatah of Malaysia, numbering approximately 91,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic subgroup of the Bidayuh people, who are part of the larger Dayak cultural family in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Biatah Bidayuh is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Biatah Bidayuh (bth)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 91,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009211
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Biatah 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

48%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Biatah Bidayuh
Language Family: Austronesian

80%
%
Bidayuh, Biatah Speakers

Media Resources in Biatah Bidayuh:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Biatah Bidayuh:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Biatah Bidayuh bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Biatah 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 Biatah:
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 Biatah of Malaysia

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
readJohn 14:6

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will recognize Him as the only way to the Father and follow Him in faith.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
readMatthew 13: 45-46

Pray that they will recognize the treasure of knowing Christ Jesus and be willing to give up everything else to gain Him.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
readJohn 10:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have assurance of eternal life, knowing that no one can snatch them out of the loving hand of Jesus.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
readPsalm 139:14

Praise God for His creativity and power, and pray that He will raise up men and women from among them who are in awe of all He has done and want to go share the hope of Christ with others.

Biatah Across Countries (ROP3 - 101411) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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