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The Tobilang of Malaysia

The Tobilang of Malaysia, numbering approximately 11,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous Tobilung subgroup of the Kadazan-Dusun peoples of northern Sabah, concentrated around Kota Marudu and Kota Belud and traditionally guided by customary law and rice-related rituals. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tobilung is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Tobilung (tgb)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 11,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009362
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Pray for the Tobilang 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

50%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tobilung
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Tobilung Speakers

Media Resources in Tobilung:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tobilung:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tobilung bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tobilang 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 Tobilang:
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 Tobilang of Malaysia

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
readJames 2:5

Pray for those living in despair to experience the riches of God's love and the hope of eternal life through faith in Christ.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
readMatthew 13:23

Pray that their hearts will have good soil that receives the Word, understands it, and bears fruit for God's kingdom.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
readIsaiah 40:9

Pray for God to send and sustain believers to go and herald the good news to the lost here.

Tobilang Across Countries (ROP3 - 110116) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

1 people group

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▼ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Tobilang PG009362 Tobilang Malaysia 11,500 No Longer Unreached Tobilung Animism

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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