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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

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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

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Pray that the merciful God who is at work in people's hearts will advance His gospel among them.

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
readHebrews 10:32-33

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the day of their salvation and persevere in their faith despite hardships and suffering.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
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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