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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Sembakung Murut of Malaysia

The Sembakung Murut of Malaysia, numbering approximately 10,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Proto-Malay hill people of the Sembakung River spanning northern Kalimantan and Sabah, whose name means hill people, formerly shifting cultivators who used the river as their highway and were among the last Bornean tribes to abandon headhunting. They mostly adhere to Animism and Sembakung Murut is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Sembakung Murut (sbr)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 10,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009334
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Pray for the Sembakung Murut 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

90%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sembakung Murut
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Murut, Sembakung Speakers

Media Resources in Sembakung Murut:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sembakung Murut:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sembakung Murut bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Sembakung Murut 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 Sembakung Murut:
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 Sembakung Murut 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.

...And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
readLuke 24:47

Pray that the message of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus will reach everyone.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
readMatthew 5:16

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be humble and give glory to God through their good deeds.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
readActs 1:8

Pray that God will raise up believers who are willing to cross cultures and boldly share the good news of Jesus with the lost in this people group and from every nation.

Murut, Sembakung Across Countries (ROP3 - 108823) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Sembakung MurutPG009334Sembakung MurutMalaysia10,500No Longer UnreachedSembakung MurutAnimism
Sembakung MurutPG022613Sembakung MurutIndonesia4,300No Longer UnreachedSembakung MurutAnimism

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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