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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The West Coast Bajau of Malaysia

The West Coast Bajau of Malaysia, numbering approximately 95,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous Sama-Bajau people of western Sabah, concentrated around Kota Belud and Tuaran, distinguished from the maritime Bajau Laut by their settled farming communities and equestrian traditions. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and West Coast Bajau is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: West Coast Bajau

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): West Coast Bajau (bdr)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 95,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG019332
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Pray for the West Coast Bajau 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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: West Coast Bajau
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Bajau, West Coast Speakers

Media Resources in West Coast Bajau:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in West Coast Bajau:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the West Coast Bajau bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The West Coast Bajau 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 West Coast Bajau:
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 West Coast Bajau of Malaysia

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
readMatthew 5:6

Pray for those who are lost to desire righteousness and to be filled with the peace and purpose that only comes from following Jesus.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
readPsalm 57:11

Pray that the lost will learn about God's great love and faithfulness so that they might trust in Christ for their salvation.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
readActs 4:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak God's Word with boldness, sharing the love of Jesus with those around them.

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
readJohn 7:38

Ask God to raise up believers and sustain them as they cross cultures to share hope with those who need it. Pray that many might come to know Christ and that streams of living water will flow from their hearts so they will never thirst again.

Bajau, West Coast Across Countries (ROP3 - 105628) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▲PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
West Coast BajauPG019332West Coast BajauMalaysia95,500Engaged yet UnreachedWest Coast BajauSunni 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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