While Malay is the official language of Sarawak ; English is widely spoken there . Local ethnic languages and Chinese dialects are spoken by the respective ethnic groups . Standard Chinese is also spoken by ethnic Chinese in Bintulu . Bintulu is spoken by communities living along the Kemena River , with 4 @,@ 200 native speakers . These speakers are now recognised as part of the Melanau ethnic group , where their main language is Malay . Bintulu is classified as one of the endangered languages in Sarawak because of the isolated usage of the language in a small community .