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The Buginese of Singapore

The Buginese of Singapore, numbering approximately 12,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a diaspora community descended from Bugis migrants from South Sulawesi, including maritime traders who settled in Singapore after its establishment as a British trading port in 1819. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Buginese is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Singapore
People Cluster: Bugi-Makassar of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Buginese (bug)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 12,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG010691
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Pray for the Buginese of Singapore

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

95%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Buginese
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Bugis Speakers

Media Resources in Buginese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Buginese:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Buginese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Buginese 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 Buginese:
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 Buginese of Singapore

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

"You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."
readMatthew 5:13

Pray that the lost will have the opportunity to hear a Christian witness of how the gospel can bring hope and that they will put their faith in Christ.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Bugis Across Countries (ROP3 - 101703) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
BuginesePG010691BugineseSingapore12,000Engaged yet UnreachedBugineseSunni Islam
BugisPG022796BugisIndonesia7,810,000Engaged yet UnreachedBugineseSunni Islam
BugisPG048662BugisMalaysia500,000Engaged yet UnreachedBugineseSunni 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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