TARAKAN (Indonesia): Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia started joint sea operations to deter piracy and counter the growing threat of terrorism on Monday.
The “Indomalphi” tripartite defence patrols kicked off aboard an Indonesian warship anchored at a port in Tarakan city, in North Kalimantan province, during a ceremony attended by defence ministers from the three countries.
The joint operations will cover the Celebes Sea, where the three countries share maritime borders, and the nearby Sulu Sea, according to a report by Nikkei Asian Review.
The joint patrols came following a string of abductions in the Sulu Sea where southern Philippines-based insurgency group Abu Sayyaf seized Indonesian ship crew members and other victims and held them for ransom.
Last month, another group of southern Philippine insurgents, the Islamic State-affiliated Maute group, attempted to take over Marawi City in Mindanao, where fighting with government forces has entered the fourth week with more than 300 people reported to have been killed.
The Philippine army said the presence of Maute members in the city had been dwindling and the insurgents may have mingled with evacuees and slipped away, the AFP recently reported.
Indonesian and Malaysian security officials have been reported to fear that terrorists may flee to nearby areas in the two countries.
“What’s happening in Mindanao can also happen in Malaysia and Indonesia,” Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said, adding that the threat from Islamic State is real and must be tackled together.
Indonesia on Monday also inaugurated a maritime command center in the naval base of Tarakan, a town in the province of North Kalimantan on Borneo island, witnessed by defense ministers and army chiefs from the three countries.
Its defense minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said the joint operations patrols would continue indefinitely until the problems of terrorism and piracy around the three countries’ borders end, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
Indonesian National Armed Forces commander Gen Gatot Nurmantyo said in addition to naval ships, the operations would also include the three countries’ armies and air forces and navies, and will involve reconnaissance aircraft, a submarine and fighter jets.
Nurmantyo also hoped that Singapore and Brunei, whose top security officials were also present at Monday’s event, would join the operations.
Earlier in the day, Nurmantyo, along with his Malaysian and Philippine counterparts, inaugurated an intelligence-sharing military command centre in Tarakan.
Similar centres will be built in nearby Tawau, a city in the east coast of Sabah, and Bongao, an outlying region in the southern Philippines.
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