Riau Malay People Group Profile

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV).

By and far the most dominate of the ethnic groups in Riau Province on Sumatra is the Riau Malay. The Riau Malay are dispersed among 3,200 islands in the area. Although the 1.8 million Riau Malay are neighbored by other ethnic groups such as the Javanese and the Minangkabau, they have remained largely insulated against outside influences to their culture.

Most Riau Malay work as farmers and fishermen. Many of them live in traditional wooden homes raised on stilts next to the river. They have also been known to build floating houses on rafts. Because their livelihood depends on farming and fishing, the economic standing of most Riau Malay is below that of other ethnic groups that have migrated to the area.

 

In Riau Malay culture, to be Malay is to be Muslim. Yet, for life’s everyday problems, they often consult the dukun or religious shaman to protect them from evil spirits. They believe these spirits are the cause behind most illnesses. As for education, Riau Malay parents generally value religious education above academic education.

There is not yet an indigenous Riau Malay church. There are only a handful of believers from among the Riau Malay and they are scattered among other ethnic groups that have churches.

Pray that:

The Holy Spirit will prepare the soil for broad, bold sharing of the Gospel.

Workers in Riau will not lose heart in sharing as the Gospel is often rejected.

Spiritual strongholds among the Riau Malay will be destroyed and the captives will be set free.

The church in Riau will be unified and bold to take the Gospel to the Riau Malay.

Riau Malay believers will grow in grace and maturity and leaders will emerge to lead Riau Malay house fellowships.

Spiritual apathy among the Riau Malay will be broken and they will see the true spiritual condition of their lives and respond with repentance.

Riau Malay will know Jesus Christ as the way, truth, and life.

Two Swans

Many traditional Jambi Malay houses have wood work like this built into the roof. It is a reminder of the two swan heads that represent the city of Jambi. Many businesses and city offices are marked by Duo Angso or the two swans. And there are real swans in Jambi.

A symbol is a powerful thing to communicate values and ideals. The swan represents beauty, grace, and poise. These are somewhat ironic as Jambi is known as being corrupt beyond the normal in a country whose corruption is already an assumed fact by the general populace.

The problem that mankind has is in the difference between the ideal and the reality of performance. People often know the right thing to do, but they lack the power to do it consistently. This is a major part of the Gospel message. Jesus not only came to forgive the sins of mankind, but also to provide the power to do the right things for the right reasons.

There are 1 million Jambi Malay who are living under the bondage of sin and are in desperate need of the Savior who can both forgive their sins and give them power to live as being dead unto sin.

Pray for believers in Jambi to be bold and holy.

Pray for Jambi Malay to be brought under deep conviction of sin.

Pray for the power of sin, corruption, and laziness to be broken among the Jambi Malay.

Pray for a vibrant, rapidly reproducing Jambi Malay church.

Quiet Streams

Sumatra is home to many places of natural beauty, such as this stream in Aceh Province. A place like this is reminiscent of Psalm 23:2-3, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” Such beauty cannot fail to turn a man’s thinking to God the Creator.

This place also points to God’s proclamation about Himself in nature in Romans 1:19-20, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

The peoples of Sumatra have many clear evidences and signs of God, but they still deserve to hear the Gospel before they pass on. The people who know God need to be faithful to share with those they meet in the way.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to flow like a stream into the parched souls of lost people on Sumatra convicting them of both sin and righteousness.

Pray for believers on Sumatra to declare the glory of God with those living in darkness around them.

Pray for believers to encounter God beside the quiet streams of life so that they have something to share with the lost and thirsty people around them.

Pray for believers to not let opportunities to share the Gospel slip by them like water flowing down a mountain stream.

It’s funny the things that come to mind beside a quiet stream.

Sweet Wood

These Kerinci farmers are stripping bark from a cinnamon tree. They call it kayu manis or sweet wood. In the days of colonialism this area was controlled by the Dutch. There are still bridges in use that were built by the Dutch. The mark of colonialism still runs deep in many Sumatran cultures.

These farmers grow and harvest the cinnamon, but they outsource the processing to other countries. The net result is they don’t get a fraction of the value from their crops. The profit is made outside of Indonesia. This is a result of colonialism.

Many Sumatrans will accept what a foreigner says as being true because there is still a subservient attitude that is left over from being ruled for 350 years by the Dutch. Some Sumatrans are angry about the amount of wealth that the Dutch gained from their rule of Indonesia. Others are whimsical about the good ‘ole days of better roads and buildings that the Dutch built.

 The problem comes in that many Sumatrans desire to have the “foreigner” take care of them. This cultural attitude makes it very difficult for workers to share the Good News without creating a dependence that causes the movement of the Gospel to be limited by the reach of the “foreign” worker. The independent, can do confidence is often lacking from new believers on Sumatra.

Sumatra has tremendous potential, but that potential will never be realized until Sumatrans are willing to take ownership of their own destiny and follow the Lord with confidence. As long as they are waiting for someone else to do the work for them, they will continue to be taken advantage of and will experience limited advancement.

Pray for Sumatran believers to be filled with confidence and a can do attitude by the Holy Spirit.

Pray for the churches on Sumatra to own the Great Commission without looking to outsiders for leadership and finances.

Pray for Sumatran business people to set up businesses that create finished products so that the people of Sumatra will receive the full value of their natural resources, and this will result in all the people being able to advance to a better standard of living.

Do You Really Understand?

It is often humorous to see the English on hats and shirts of Sumatrans. This Penghulu man certainly looks like a die-hard Iron Maiden fan, doesn’t he? Another time a worker met with a Rejang man who had a shirt that said, “I’m an alcoholic”. When asked if he understood the meaning of his shirt, he said that he did not. It just goes to show that it is not wise to wear something in a foreign language if you don’t know what it means!

In a similar way many Sumatrans hold religious views without really understanding the meaning of what they claim to believe. For example, most Muslims on Sumatra believe that they will have to spend some time in hell before they will be able to get to heaven. They share this belief without any concern or emotion about the reality of what that means.

One worker likes to challenge this by asking for a lighter. Most Sumatran men smoke, so it isn’t too difficult to find a lighter. He then asks the man to hold out his hand. “What finger do you use the least?” he asks. When the man tell him, he says, “Okay, I’m just going to burn this finger for five seconds. Is that okay?” The man always jerks back his hand. The point is made.

Pray for Sumatrans to realize the gravity and reality of hell.

Pray for Sumatrans to see the beauty and reality of the Gospel.

Pray for a harvest of souls from among all peoples on Sumatra.

Malam Minggu

This young couple is sitting along the banks of the river enjoying the sunset together in Jambi, Sumatra. It is Saturday evening or malam Minggu. It is not socially acceptable to be alone with members of the opposite sex in public unless it is malam Minggu. That is the one night that couples are allowed to date. It is not unusual to see dozens of couples together at scenic places like this on malam Minggu.

Societal norms and pressure exert a tremendous influence in every area of a Sumatran’s life. Questions such as who you can date and when you can date lead to who you can marry, what work you do, what religion you follow, how you raise children, and the cycle repeats. Such influence is not necessarily negative, but it can become so when the societal norms prevent people from obeying God. In many of the Sumatran people groups the Gospel is unilaterally rejected because it does not conform to societal religious norms.

Pray for new believers on Sumatra to have courage to stand against societal norms for the sake of being obedient to God.

Pray for people groups on Sumatra to have courage to examine their own societal norms and reject those norms that keep them from following God’s truth.

Pray for workers to have courage as they go into new areas and challenge existing societal norms for the sake of the Gospel.

Family Planning

Keluarga Berencana (KB) is a common Indonesian term for family planning. As with many agricultural cultures, it was seen as a blessing to have lots of children. As population increased to the point that the land couldn’t support the people, the Indonesian government started education campaigns to encourage families to have fewer children.

This sign connects the words for independence and prosperity below family planning. It then says, “Two children are better.” Many of the wealthier, better educated urbanites have embraced this idea. The families in rural areas still often have three to five children per family. Many times they aren’t financially able to care for them.

Thinking outside the cultural norm is often met with resistance, and change comes slow. More important than having more or less children is having a right relationship with God. The Gospel is the way to have a right relationship with God, but it’s currently outside the cultural norm among the people groups of Sumatra. Therefore, it’s often met with resistance. Acceptance is slow.

KB is the abbreviation for family planning in Indonesia. It’s also the abbreviation for Good New or Kabar Baik. We need more of the second kind of KB to be shared on Sumatra!

Pray for those who are hearing the Gospel for the first time on Sumatra to have open minds and hearts to hear and receive God’s way of salvation.

Pray for those sharing the Gospel on Sumatra to be bold and to persevere when the message is received coldly by the peoples.

Pray for Kabar Baik (KB) to be shared to every person living on Sumatra.