THE SMOKOL PHENOMENON IN MALAYSIA- INDONESIA CROSS-BORDER INFORMAL TRADE AT SEBATIK ISLAND

In the context of border trade on Sebatik Island, the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia have signed a series of agreements involving cross-border activities. The implementation and overlap of cross-border activities trigger various polemics, problems, and connotations, especially from trade concept manipulation, borderline manipulation, resource dependence, ethnic border manifestations and local economic integration. The main purpose of this article is to elevate local discoveries to the global stage, especially in understanding the Smokol phenomenon that occurs in cross-border informal trade activities. For this purpose, the 'presence in the field' methodology is used to obtain information. A total of six (6) economic actors in Sebatik Island, with three (3) different locations, were used as key informants to identify the background of the community and economic activities of the border community through ethnographic methods and interviews. Meanwhile, 101 economic actors were used as face-to-face questionnaire respondents to identify population, demographics, and perceptions about borders and border trade. The research results found that all the main informants and respondents perform economic activities by applying the Smokol phenomenon. This concept creates an arena of integration as a 'multi-location market', a form of the market created by society without government regulation. The implications are huge to justify the governments of both countries to understand the social reality of border communities as border actors in implementing policies related to the interests of the country and its citizens. This study's main contribution is applying the Smokol phenomenon concept in cross -border informal trade activities in Sebatik Island, Malaysia -Indonesia.