Mediation is an approach that is based on the values of volunteerism, impartiality, neutrality, openness, guaranteeing the participation of all interested parties, and upholding the spirit of cooperation in finding common ground of the interests of the parties. This approach allows the conflicting parties to be facilitated in formulating a solution as a mutually beneficial agreement.

Mediation is carried out to identify a common ground as a basis for integrating the interests of the parties in an agreement that is a “win-win solution and thus acceptable to be implemented by the parties. This approach is different from the confrontational approach, such as litigation, which starts from an assessment of whether or not one party’s claim is right. Because it only aims to reach a “win-lose” solution, the result is always zero-sum, where the victory or amount of profit of one party is as large as the loss of the other party. Hence, here time and energy are spent looking for the weaknesses and faults of the other party.

Historically, mediation has actually deep roots in the lives of Indonesian people with a tradition of musyawarah untuk mufakat (deliberation to reach consensus). The government even recommends mediation as an appropriate and effective way of peaceful dispute resolution and opens wider access to the parties to obtain a satisfactory and fair settlement, as has been regulated by the Supreme Court’s Regulation No. 1 of 2016.