<![CDATA[Community-based dispute resolution has long been practised informally by sub-district governments in Indonesia through deliberation and mediation facilitated by village heads, community leaders, and religious figures. Despite its significant role in maintaining social harmony, The practice remains institutionally weak due to the absence of a comprehensive legal framework, standardised governance, professional mediators, and operational procedures. Existing studies predominantly examine mediation, its effectiveness, or court-annexed mediation, while attention devoted to designing a regulatory and governance framework for community-based mediation institutions at the local government level remains limited. This study formulates a regulatory and institutional governance model for village/sub-district mediation institutions based on empirical findings from Malang City, Indonesia. Employing a socio-legal approach that integrates normative legal analysis with empirical research, this research collected data through statutory analysis, in-depth interviews with sub-district heads, observations, and document analysis. The findings reveal a three-dimensional regulatory loopholes in normative, institutional, and operational aspects, collectively hindering the institutionalisation of community mediation. To address these gaps, this study proposes an integrated regulatory and governance frameworkcomprising six interrelated components: regulatory philosophy, institutional arrangement, authority and jurisdiction, operational governance, accountability system and digital governance framework. Furthermore, the study develops a seven-stage operational governance modelencompassing institutional entry, case assessment, mediator appointment, community mediation process, settlement agreement, monitoring, and evaluation, supported by Integrated Community Mediation Information System aligned with Indonesia's Electronic-Based Government System. Theoretically, this study contributes to alternative dispute resolution literature by introducing the Three-Dimensional Regulatory Vacuum Theory and the Community-Based Mediation Governance Model, which integrate legal system theory, responsive law, institutional governance, collaborative governance and digital governance into a comprehensive framework for community dispute resolution. Practically, the proposed model offers an evidence-based blueprint for drafting local regulations and strengthening access to justice through institutionalised, accountable, and digitally enabled community mediation.]]>
