The Indonesians of Malaysia

The Indonesians of Malaysia, numbering approximately 344,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an Austronesian linguistic community whose identity is more closely linked to Indonesian citizenship than to ethnic background They are an Diaspora people, with Indonesian as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Malay people cluster of the Malay Peoples. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Indonesian is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Malay
Primary Language(s): Indonesian (ind)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 344,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG020239
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Indonesians 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

92%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Indonesian
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Indonesian Speakers

Media Resources in Indonesian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

4 films

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Indonesians 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 Indonesians:
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 Indonesians of Malaysia

Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
readJerremiah 32:17

Pray that the God who made the heavens and the earth by the power of His outstretched arm, the One who is able to save those who are lost, will show His great love and mercy to those who are walking in darkness.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
readLuke 13:3

Pray that the lost will repent and believe the gospel, for without it, they will perish.

And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
readZechariah 2:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a heart that longs to see all people from all parts of the world worshiping Jesus as He deserves.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Indonesian Across Countries (ROP3 - 114115) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

8 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
IndonesiansIndonesiansMalaysia344,000No Longer UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansSingapore200,000No Longer UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansNetherlands158,000Engaged yet UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansHong Kong140,000No Longer UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansUnited States79,500No Longer UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansAustralia30,000No Longer UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansCanada17,000Unengaged and UnreachedIndonesianSunni Islam
IndonesiansIndonesiansChina11,500No Longer UnreachedIndonesianProtestantism

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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