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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Sinabu of Malaysia

The Sinabu of Malaysia, numbering approximately 2,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as one of four dialect subgroups of Upper Kinabatangan (dmg), a language of Malaysia They are an Indigenous people, with Sinabu as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Borneo-Kalimantan people cluster of the Malay Peoples. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Upper Kinabatangan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Upper Kinabatangan (dmg)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 2,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG019271
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Pray for the Sinabu 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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Upper Kinabatangan
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Kinabatangan, Upper Speakers

Media Resources in Upper Kinabatangan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Upper Kinabatangan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Upper Kinabatangan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Sinabu 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 Sinabu:
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 Sinabu of Malaysia

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that those who need to surrender their lives to Christ will confess their sins and trust in Him, being united with Him in His death and resurrection, walking in newness of life.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
readJohn 3:14-15

Pray that the lost will look to Jesus lifted up on the cross and believe in Him, gaining eternal life with God.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
readColossians 2:6-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be rooted and built up in Him, abounding in thanksgiving for the grace and mercy He has shown them.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
readActs 17:29

Pray that God will send out laborers to tell people of the one true God and, as the good news is shared, bring about repentance and belief as they turn from idols and follow Jesus.

Sinabu Across Countries (ROP3 - 109021) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
SinabuPG019271SinabuMalaysia2,000No Longer UnreachedUpper KinabatanganProtestantism

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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