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The Penan of Malaysia

The Penan of Malaysia, numbering approximately 13,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Malaysia. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Eastern Penan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Eastern Penan (pez)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 13,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG018231
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Pray for the Penan 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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

65%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Eastern Penan
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Penan, Eastern Speakers

Media Resources in Eastern Penan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Eastern Penan:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2011 Pengepemung irah éh suai Surat Tuhan tong Malaysia✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Eastern Penan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Penan 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 Penan:
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 Penan of Malaysia

But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven"
readMatthew 9:14

Pray that those who are spiritually dead will recognize their need for spiritual nourishment and turn to the One who offers true fulfillment.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

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.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
readPsalm 9:18

Pray that God will raise up believers who can help meet emotional and physical needs among this people group. Ask Him to open doors for them and give them the courage to walk into difficult situations and share the hope of the gospel boldly.

Penan, Eastern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107968) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
PenanPG018231PenanMalaysia13,500No Longer UnreachedEastern PenanEthnoreligion

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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