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urabaya is hosting the third preparatory committee meeting for Habitat III, with 3,500 people, including ministers, mayors and other officials from 33 countries, attending to talk about the New Urban Agenda, which carries the message of “sustainable urban development and human settlements for all.”

The draft of the New Urban Agenda, facilitated by the UN, conveys several keywords: people-centered, social inclusivity and environmental sustainability. The latest draft, which is being debated and is to be agreed upon in Quito in October, sets several ambitious targets like sustainable urban development for social inclusion and ending poverty, combating all forms of discrimination and violence, enabling communities’ full and meaningful participation, and ensuring that no one is left behind.

Sukarti, 40, is among those who have been left behind in the Pasar Ikan area in North Jakarta. The mother of two now lives in a wooden shack made from wreckage of her neighbors’ houses after public order officers demolished the settlement she resided in last April.

About 200 families, including Sukarti’s, have resisted the eviction and remain in their former kampung, while some 100 families agreed to a Jakarta administration-sponsored relocation to Rawa Bebek and Marunda low-cost rental apartments (rusunawa). The rest of the families chose to resettle somewhere else.

The rusunawa is situated far away from Pasar Ikan, which is why Sukarti and other families stubbornly reject the relocation. It takes one hour by car without traffic from Marunda and Rawa Bebek to Pasar Ikan, where they make a living. Taking public transportation will make the trip even longer.

Last February the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) released a report, which recorded 113 cases of forced evictions in Jakarta in 2015, displacing 8,145 families and 6,283 small enterprises. Of the cases, 95 were conducted without dialogue in advance and evictees were not given any options as to how to carry on with their lives.  

The only option offered was to relocate to the rusunawa, according to the report. Most rusunawa are located too far away from the evictees’ original kampung, simply because the government and Jakarta administration tend to overlook participatory planning in building the new housing. When the authorities flatten a kampung, they demolish not only houses but also the livelihood and social bonds that may have been created decades ago. As in the case of Sukarti, rusunawa provides only better housing, but deprives the affected people of their livelihoods and social circles.

Even in cases where the rusunawa is built not too far from the original kampung like Jatinegara Barat rusunawa in East Jakarta that accommodates 500 families out of 1,040 evicted from Kampung Pulo, relocated families have complained of decreasing incomes, an inability to pay their monthly rent, a water rate they cannot afford (Rp 5,500 per cubic meter or about US 50 cents), and broken social ties. Many tenants cannot continue their businesses in the rusunawa because of the unfavorable design and rules.

Now, 20 years after Habitat II in Istanbul, forced evictions have remained the preferred method to clear cities of the “illegal, the squatters, and the great unwashed” to pave the way for green areas, new development and flood mitigation programs. In 2003 alone, more than 5,000 families in Jakarta were evicted by then governor Sutiyoso, now the National Intelligence Agency chief.

When President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was Jakarta governor from 2012 to 2014, thousands of families were evicted, most notably for revitalization of the Pluit Reservoir to mitigate floods. As he chose persuasion, the evictees did not resist his plan. He also promised to make sure each family affected would receive an apartment unit, but after relocating, the evictees in Muara Baru rusunawa claim their incomes have fallen while their expenditures have climbed.

In the latest draft national report for Habitat III, written in April 2015, the government claims that eviction cases have declined. The government did not elaborate the numbers. The government also says relocation to rusunawa is a “good practice”, while facts show otherwise.

The Indonesian government refrains from addressing forced evictions in the Habitat III meeting. When asked about the issue, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono simply said Monday that the evictions were “for flood mitigation”.

The ministry, under its Ciliwung River normalization program, was behind the eviction of the Kampung Pulo riverbank community in August last year, which turned violent.

The ministry, the focal point of urban housing issues in Indonesia, plans to take delegates and journalists on a tour to “improved kampung” and “green kampung” in Surabaya. The draft national report also enlists success stories of kampung improvement but says nothing about the thousands families who have lost their homes.

I am not saying Indonesia has not achieved anything after Habitat II 20 years ago, but after so many years why does it still disregard its own people in its urban development? How can Indonesia preach about sustainable development and resettlement for all, a people-centered urban approach, meaningful participation and social inclusivity while ignoring the voices of its most vulnerable communities?

As long as the government avoids talking about the evictions in this key forum in Surabaya, hopes look dim for us to see the New Urban Agenda work in the country.