Socio-cultural Study of the Unattended Urban Poor (Study of the Poor in the City of Kendari)

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.