The Brunei Malays of Brunei

The Brunei Malays of Brunei, numbering approximately 326,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Brunei and Malaysia. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Brunei is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Brunei
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Brunei (kxd)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 326,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG018237
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Brunei Malays of Brunei

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Brunei
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Brunei Speakers

Media Resources in Brunei:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Brunei:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Brunei bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Brunei Malays 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 Brunei Malays:
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 Brunei Malays of Brunei

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
readRomans 1:19

Pray that God will use testimony of creation to cause those who do not yet know the gospel to long for truth and a relationship with the Author of life.

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.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
readIsaiah 26:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, the Lord will keep them in perfect peace as they trust in Him.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
read2 Peter 3:9

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will patiently endure hardships as they share the gospel, knowing that the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise.

Brunei-Kadaian Across Countries (ROP3 - 101679) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Brunei MalaysBrunei MalaysBrunei326,000Engaged yet UnreachedBruneiSunni Islam
KedayanKedayanMalaysia91,000Unengaged and UnreachedBruneiSunni Islam
BruneiBruneiCanada5,400Unengaged and UnreachedBruneiSunni Islam
Brunei-KadayanBrunei-KadayanUnited States750Unengaged and UnreachedBruneiSunni 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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