In Misool, the term Matbat refers to an ethnic group merging both linguistic populations from Magey Matbat and Tomolol Matbat.

Dr Bert Remijsen is a linguist affiliated with Leiden University, the International Institute for Asian Studies, and the University of Edinburgh. He has spent years of study on the phonetic analysis, understanding and origin of the Papouan dialects. Bert reports from his last local survey (2002) that Magey Matbat numbered around 500 people divided between four little villages along the coast. These villages are: Magey (or Mage), Kapacol, Aduwey, and Salafen. The other group, Tomolol Matbat, is mainly localised on North-East of the island, including villages of Lenmalas, Tomolol, Atkiri and Polle.

There is a migration myth in the Raja Ampat archipelago which says that the Ma’ya of Waigeo, Salawati and Misool have a common origin in west Waigeo.
There is some evidence for this as the people from the different villages speak the same language. The Waigeo origin of the Ma_ya probably reflects historic truth. In common are some language and physical similarities with the Ma_ya who migrated and the Ma’ya from Kawe and Wauyai located on Waigeo. The Ma’ya from these villages are Christian and de Clercq (1893) makes clear that both the Wauyai and the Kawe did not live in villages along the coast at the end of the 19th century.
They were previously interior oriented people which confirm the myth of the Waigeo origin: Migrating from Waigeo, the Ma_ya became outsiders on Salawati and Misool, with no right to lands and then confined to the coastal areas.

Ma’ya people are Austronesians who reached West Papua at about 1,500 B.C. and established their enclaves in Waigeo before moving to other place such as Misool, but the Austronesians did not replace the original Papuan population in these areas.