For the second time in seven months, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo observed a massive military drill around the resourcerich Natuna Islands, an area where Indonesian maritime authorities have had a number of run-ins with Chinese vessels.

The Natuna waters are partly claimed by China as they are within Beijing’s ambiguous ninedash line. The area verges on the South China Sea, where tensions have been up and down for years because of territorial disputes between countries in the region.

Jokowi, who has had a busy schedule shuttling between regions since he returned from China on May 15, spared time to observe the military exercise only a day before he was slated to depart for Saudi Arabia.

Joined by 5,900 troops of the Indonesian Military’s (TNI) Quick Response Team, it was larger than the Air Force’s Angkasa Yudha exercises, which were observed by Jokowi in Natuna in October last year and involved some 2,000 personnel.

Jokowi dubbed the exercise a show of “TNI’s preparedness” in maintaining the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

“Whether on land, in the sky, or on water, our military force is ready when the nation needs it,” Jokowi said after witnessing a parade by the Army, the Navy and the Air Force in Tanjung Datuk on Bunguran Island, the main island of the Natunas.

The exercise provided emphasis on Jokowi’s policy to boost the country’s presence in ocean border areas in a bid to safeguard Indonesia’s maritime sovereignty, given the historically rampant smuggling and fish poaching.

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