Reconstructing Counterinsurgency for Papua: Integrating Indigenous Security into an Applied Counterinsurgency Framework

Classical Counterinsurgency approach currently applied in Papua did not achieve sustained peace as it did not factor in local community’s security epistemology and the traditional institution. The research assessed the shortcomings of a military-cantered strategy through a thorough document analysis of 87 publicly accessible literary sources, including policies, academic work, and CSO information produced from 2015 to 2025. Given restricted access to the study area and the politically sensitive nature of conflicts, the study relied on public access secondary document research. Results of the study show that kinetic action only escalates people’s distrust, whereas traditional methods such as Noken, village deliberation, or ceremonies possess conflict resolution capacity but are not utilized. The hypothesis of this article develops co-security framework – a cooperative model allowing TNI/POLRI and traditional institution share power, legitimacy, and operational mechanism. It major contributions are (1) critical view of the epistemological universality principle of English-speaking COIN; (2) development of the co-security theoretical conception (3) a flexible operational framework for adaptation. The policy recommendations are to adopt the new forums of tripartite negotiation and implement success indicator, that is, the public’s trust.