Satun Province. Thailand

Satun Province 
        Satun is one of the four provinces of Thailand which have a Muslim majority: 70% are Muslim and 30% are Buddhists. Most of the Muslims have some ethnic-Malay ancestry, though only 9.9% of the population claims to be ethnically Malay. The Malay dialect used in Satun is distinctly different from Pattani Malay and is much closer to the Kedah dialect of Malay, with a significant admixture of Thai influences.

         Since Satun had belonged to the Kedah Sultanate, which had a strong relationship with both Ayutthaya and Siam under the Chakri dynasty, its Malay Muslims commonly intermarry with Thai Buddhists without serious religious hesitation. This custom has created a distinct social group known as Samsam, meaning a mixed person. Most Samsams, if not all, are Muslims.

          Unlike the other Muslim majority provinces in Thailand, Satun does not have a history of political confrontation with the central power in Bangkok or of tension with the Buddhist population which makes up the majority of Thailand as a country.[3] Malay Muslims in Satun are substantially assimilated and rarely sympathise with separatism from Thailand, in contrast to the Malay Muslims in Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.