Opportunities of Tammalang Area in the Thai-Malaysian Border’s Social Contexts and Capital Aspects

Abstract

This article focused on the existing context and social capital available at Thai-Malaysian border communities, particularly in Tammalang Community, Muang District of Satun Province. As it is the border community, which is prosperous in terms of trading compared to other communities, Tammalang possesses a port, which plays a vital role in its being a transport centre that connects Perlis State of Malaysia and Singapore. In addition, the community is the border checkpoint to Malaysia. Based on these reasons, the social capital of Tammalang and Perlis State is worth analysis, especially in the aspect of geographical capital, which is the most frequently used and the nearest border checkpoint. In relation to the social capital, kinship capital reflects that the lineage of the people in the Tammalang Community originated from Malaysia and Indonesia that they tie up relationship by means of marriage. This results in close kinship, and the strength of the regional community before ASEAN Economic Community officially commenced. Moreover, language capital pointed out that the people in the community speak the same Malay dialect as that of the Malaysians. Therefore, the language can be a significant capital for the local people here. Their abilities to speak official Thai and the southern dialect give them benefits over others in running business in the area. With regards to the community-based tourism capital, the community has participated in Community-based Tourism Development Network and the community has also established the Economic and Social Development Fund.