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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Punan of Brunei

The Punan of Brunei, numbering approximately 90 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Bornean people, also called Penan, likely descended from Taiwan-origin farmers who arrived between 5,000 and 2,500 BCE before abandoning agriculture for forest hunting and gathering, divided by the Baram River into East and West branches. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Eastern Penan is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Punan

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Brunei
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Eastern Penan (pez)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 90
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG046592

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Pray for the Punan of Brunei

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

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Eastern Penan
Language Family: Austronesian

72%
%
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 Punan 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 Punan:
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 Punan of Brunei

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
readPsalm 96:5

Pray that those who are seeking after worthless idols will not be satisfied until they seek the truth and find it in Christ.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:5

While there are many who do not yet praise God, pray that He will work in their lives, advance the gospel among them, and bring many to saving faith in Christ.

For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.
read2 Thessalonians 3:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will persevere according to God's command, walk in faith, and be strong so that they can resist the evil one’s deception.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Penan, Western Across Countries (ROP3 - 108180) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▲PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
PunanPG046592PunanBrunei90No 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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