Bugis of Indonesia

Primary Religion: Islam (99.79%)

% Evangelical Christian: 0.00%

Status:  Less than 2% Evangelical. Initial (localized) church planting within past 2 years

Persecution Rank: 43

The Bugis (sometimes called the Ugi) live in the province of South Sulawesi. They are dynamic, highly mobile people, considered to be the dominant people group in South Sulawesi. Many Bugis have left their home area to seek success and wealth and have moved to Sumbawa, Java, Papua and even Malaysia.

Most Bugis make their living by hunting, fishing, farming, raising livestock, or making handicrafts. Typically, the Bugis who live in the mountain ranges make their livelihood by working the soil, while those living along the coastal regions work as fishermen. However, at present, the Bugis need financial investment and modernization in public shipping and the fishing industry. There is great potential in these sectors. South Sulawesi’s potential in the mining and industrial sectors is also largely untapped due to a lack of expertise and investment.

Two of the most important cultural values for the Bugis are called siri (personal honor) and siri-pesse (communal honor). A Bugis person must defend, maintain, and build one’s own siri. The effort to obtain and maintain siri varies according to the context. For example, in an economic context, siri means working hard and being faithful. If one’s siri is offended, serious forms of revenge will be considered. Islam reinforced the traditional Bugis concept of siri in such a way that the typical Bugis person sees siri as the key to his or her self-identity as a Bugis muslim.The Bugis are well known for their fervent adherence to Sunni Islam. However, many of them are still bound to their traditional system of animistic beliefs (panngaderreng). Traditional culture has a significant impact on the Bugis due to its religious values.

Prayer Points

• Pray that as the Bugis people work so hard for siri, they see their weakness, the futility of their own labor, their great sin, and the emptiness of finding their identity within themselves.  As they are broken by their sin, pray that Jesus will show Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that they will ultimately find their confidence and identity in Him.
• “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  Luke 10:2b
• As Christians go to the Bugis with the gospel and as the Bugis repent and believe in Christ, pray for the local churches.  Pray that they would be encouraged, have endurance, and place their full dependence on the Lord.  Pray that God would produce much lasting fruit in and through them.

This information was gathered from Joshua Project.  For more go to Operation World.