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andidates in Jakarta’s gubernatorial election, to be held in February next year, have begun to present their programs to the electorate and state their views on various issues, including evictions, which is considered by many of the city’s poor to be one of the most pressing problems.

On his recent visit to Kampung Muara Baru in North Jakarta, former culture and education minister Anies Baswedan told residents that he would review cases one by one and hold discussions with the affected residents before an eviction was to be carried out, if he was elected governor.

“The concept I am offering is that when there is a problem, like an eviction, we [my administration] will have dialogues and discussions [with residents] to find solutions together,” he said during his visit on Monday.

On previous visits to various neighborhoods, Anies said he could not promise that there would be no evictions under his leadership.

He said, however, that he would focus on providing residents with proper health services and easy access to education.

“All of them [the residents] object [to evictions], but if they are engaged in a dialogue, they are ready [to be relocated],” Anies said when visiting Kampung Warung Doyong in East Jakarta on Sunday.

Last week, Anies signed a political contract with residents of Guji Baru in West Jakarta, promising to help them obtain legal documents for the land they live on, if he is elected.

Expressing concern about the administration’s policy, the residents said they feared that they could fall victim to the policy if they did not present proper land ownership documents.

According to a study released by the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) in February, the administration carried out a total of 113 evictions in 2015, affecting 8,145 families and 6,283 businesses. The study found that 84 percent of the evictions were conducted without prior discussions with affected residents.

The LBH recently warned that people in 325 locations of the city faced potential evictions this year.

Anies and former midrank military officer Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, both of whom were unexpectedly announced as governor candidates in the 11th hour of candidate registration last month, have visited poor neighborhoods to introduce themselves to voters.

Agus, the eldest son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said earlier this month that policies to deal with slum areas, including evictions, should be done properly and humanly.

He did not specifically say whether or not he would continue the eviction policy.

Like Anies, Agus also said he would help residents obtain proper residencies that are free from the threat of eviction.

Meanwhile, Ahok has stated clearly that he would continue his current eviction policy. He said recently that he aimed to improve the living quality for residents in the city and would continue to relocate people currently living on riverbanks and in the city’s green space areas to subsidized rental apartments.

The governor plans to build 50,000 apartments to house evicted residents, according to his vision and mission obtained from the General Election Commission (KPU) website.

Ahok considers relocating residents from slum areas to low-cost apartments (rusunawa) a way to improve their living quality.

“Therefore, we are relocating them to low-cost rental apartments. We provide them with doctors, buses, we take care of their children who want to go to school and we conduct market operations [to provide staple food products below market prices]. That is what we call humane [treatment],” he said.