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The Tungara of Malaysia

The Tungara of Malaysia, numbering approximately 650 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Murut sub-ethnic group of Sabah, one of some twenty-nine such subgroups each with its own dialect and homeland within the broader hill-dwelling Murut classification of Borneo. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Bookan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Bookan (bnb)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 650
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG019322
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Pray for the Tungara 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

56%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bookan
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Murut, Bookan Speakers

Media Resources in Bookan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Bookan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bookan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tungara 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 Tungara:
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 Tungara of Malaysia

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
readPsalm 47:6

Pray that believers will have a heart to invite others to trust in Christ alone so that they might sing praises to His name.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
readPsalm 89:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will declare and record His faithfulness and love to be passed on from generation to generation.

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
readLuke 18:29-30

Pray that God will raise up people to go and share the gospel and help them trust His promise that anyone who has left those they treasure for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive many times more in this life and in the life to come.

Tungara Across Countries (ROP3 - 110281) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TungaraPG019322TungaraMalaysia650No Longer UnreachedBookanRoman Catholicism

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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