Encouraging Society’s Economy in Globalization Era : Traditional Markets in Napan Border Indonesia – Oecusse District (Timor Leste)

Markets at the border of Napan - Oecusse Timor Leste has a multifunctional state. Not only as a place for trading and transactions, but also a space where socio-cultural interaction occurs and the maintenance of social cultural values of the community as a cultural root happen. Political separation caused the emergence of new communication spaces in the form of markets to preserve the values that unite them. Other than that, the policy of developing nation’s border gates is a threat to the sustainability of the market and its socio-cultural function. The fundamental question in this research is how the implementation of the people’s market in Napan as a place to meet economic needs and preserve the social cultural values of the border communities. The purpose of this study is analyzing the existence of markets and socio-economic functions by describing in a descriptive qualitative form from Kaplan.. The data was acquired through in-depth interview and observation, participation involved, and in-depth interviews of informants from Danny L. Jurgensen. The market at the border presents as a media to preserve the social and cultural values of the people who have the same cultural roots and to maintain the kinship of the indigenous people.