The International Journal Of Engineering And Science (IJES) || Volume || 4 || Issue || 8 || Pages || PP -49-55|| 2015 || ISSN (e): 2319 – 1813 ISSN (p): 2319 – 1805 www.theijes.com The IJES Page 49 Socio-cultural Study of the Unattended Urban Poor (Study of the Poor in the City of Kendari) Hasan Aedy Faculty of Business and Economics, Halu Oleo University, Southeast Sulawesi of Indonesia. -------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT------------------------------------------------------------- This study was conducted in capital city of Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The study objectives were to find out factors that cause the poverty of the unattended poor in urban areas as well as to determine the most appropriate form of intervention suiting their condition. The research method was case study with qualitative approach through in-depth interview. Sampling was done through snowball sampling technique. The number of sample saturated after the informant reached 10 persons. The research population was the urban poor working as beggars, scavengers, and casual laborers. They live and earn a living in the city of Kendari. To obtain reliable data the research used sources triangulation, time triangulation, and techniques triangulation. The results of the study were as follows: (1) The unattended urban poor in this region are poor people, most of whom are poor of property, poor of knowledge, poor of morals and poor of faith (religion). They are poor of faith for not performing the command of God and performing activities prohibited by Allah instead; (2) The unattended urban poor in this region are those who suffer structural poverty as they have no access to decent work, receive no attention from the government and rich people nearby as well as often beyond the reach of formal assistance structure. In addition, they accept zakah (alms-giving) or social aid as sympathy to survive; (3) The unattended urban poor in this area are commonly coming migrants who do not possess production factors of land unless their workforce only; (4) A few of the unattended urban poor in this region is culturally poor since they do not want to be regulated, be lazy and disobedient and it accounts for why some of them survive by expecting the mercy of others, even stealing and taking away the rights of others; (5) The unattended urban poor in this region are those who are in need of both psychological and social empowerment in terms of knowledge, mental and faith. Keywords - Poor, Urban, Displaced, Empowered, Social, Cultural --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 21 August 2015 Date of Accepted: 28 August 2015 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION Poverty has become a development issue in many developing countries including in Indonesia. The government and non-governmental organizations that are concerned about poverty have been trying to alleviate poverty in many countries. However, poverty looks like a chronic disease which is very difficult to heal completely. At one time, the number of the poor is decreased, but another time it is suddenly increased again only due to inflation or economic crisis that hit the country. In this regard, there are a wide range of factors that drive poverty in addition to cultural factors, such as natural factor, global factor and ideological factor. Thus poverty is a complex matter that must be overcome through formula that could best address its causes and involve many interdisciplinary expertise’s. This study specifically raises the issue of urban poverty that is the poor whom are marginalized most and unattended. Furthermore, this research is to find the best formula to strengthen the poor, especially those who still have the potential to be empowered. Meanwhile those who could not be empowered will be given assistance throughout lifetime and thereby even if they remain poor, they will not become a source of crime that may be impacted by poverty. Based on national data in 2014, people living in poverty make up around 10.5 percent of the Indonesian total population. Poor individuals in the research site are still about 7 percent of the total population of 331.013 inhabitants. In other words, the number of poor people in the region of the research is over 20.000, an amount that can be alert for the whole society if it is not handled appropriately. Therefore, this study intends to find a pathway out of the urban poverty occurred especially to group who are extremely poor and neglected in the capital city of Kendari.