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The Mah Meri of Malaysia

The Mah Meri of Malaysia, numbering approximately 5,300 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Senoi subgroup of Malaysia's Orang Asli whose ancestors migrated from islands off southern Johor to settle along the Selangor coast and Carey Island, renowned today for wood carvings recognized by UNESCO. They mostly adhere to Animism and Besisi is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: West Malaysia Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Besisi (mhe)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 5,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG009290
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Pray for the Mah Meri 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

66%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Besisi
Language Family: Austroasiatic

70%
%
Mah Meri Speakers

Media Resources in Besisi:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Besisi:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Besisi bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mah Meri 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 Mah Meri:
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

Pray specifically for the Mah Meri of Malaysia

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
readTitus 3:3

Pray for those who seek worldly pleasures instead of God to flee from sin and choose God’s goodness and lovingkindness by placing their faith in Jesus.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that God will use ways from in-person witnesses to digital gospel resources to bring the joy of His salvation to everyone so that they can be glad in Him and sing for joy.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

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

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Mah Meri Across Countries (ROP3 - 106021) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
Mah MeriPG009290Mah MeriMalaysia5,300Engaged yet UnreachedBesisiAnimism

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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