T

he ongoing insurgency in the southern Philippines has led three neighboring countries — Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines — to put the already signed standard operating procedures for trilateral maritime cooperation into practice. On Monday, defense ministers from the three countries launched a trilateral maritime patrol, code-named Indomalphi, a joint patrol designed to drive back any insurgents in the region.

The framework of the trilateral maritime security cooperation agreement was signed in Bali on Aug. 1, 2016, officially marking the start of coordinated joint sea patrols by the three neighboring countries to secure their regional waters.

But the joint patrols could not start last year despite a series of kidnappings of Indonesian and Malaysian citizens by a splinter group of the Abu Sayyaf militants in the restive southern Philippines. The abductions did not provide enough solid ground to immediately launch the trilateral sea patrol as rescue operations were held on land and carried out solely by the Philippine military, while Indonesia and Malaysia could not get involved as this would infringe the Philippines’ jurisdiction.

This time, however, the situation is different. The ongoing battle between the Islamic State (IS) movement-linked Maute terrorists and Philippine military in Marawi city, on Mindanao Island, has sparked fears that the group members will flee the area and attempt to enter Indonesia and Malaysia. The Philippine security authorities have claimed that Indonesians and Malaysians were among the insurgents recently killed in the battle.

The joint maritime cooperation is apparently the best option for the three countries; Indonesia and Malaysia, with their mountainous and jungle terrain, are potential refuges for the fleeing insurgents.

Technically the trilateral maritime cooperation requires common understanding and shared knowledge and capability among the three countries’ militaries. To participate in joint operations, all personnel involved must speak the same language, or have a common perception of the threats and the necessary strategies to deal with them.

The three countries must also set up a common and universally accepted and understood operational networking system to avoid misunderstandings of instructions, codes and strategies in order to prevent fatalities, especially among members of the joint operation forces.

Also of important consideration is the interoperability among forces of the three countries. Failure to provide such interoperability could lead to the failure of the whole operation.

Finance-wise, such a joint operation is essentially burden-sharing for the countries involved, especially when each of them is insufficiently endowed economically to individually finance such a costly military operation. Moreover, the insurgency in southern Mindanao has impacted not only the Philippines, but also its two neighbors, so a joint operation is therefore essential.

However, despite being identified as a joint operation, Indomalphi will still be a financial burden for each country, including Indonesia. For example, the costs borne by Indonesia per ship deployed on patrol are not small. In 2014 then Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Moeldoko said it cost some Rp 900 million (US$67,500) to deploy a Navy ship for a one-day sea operation. We just need to multiply that for weeks or months of operation, and this excludes the expenditures and allowances for the personnel involved throughout the operation.

Apart from the patrol ships and the personnel, Indonesia’s involvement in the trilateral maritime operation includes the deployment of at least three Sukhoi jet fighters. The three jet fighters are based in Tarakan, a town in North Kalimantan near the maritime border with the southern Philippines. The three Sukhoi jets, which are designed to strengthen the naval patrols that are already being conducted near the border with the Philippines, as reported by Antara news agency, will remain in Tarakan for one month.

Based on rough estimates, the operational expenditure for a Sukhoi SU-27/30 MKI Flanker to perform a one-hour air patrol is Rp 100 million. Again we simply need to multiply that cost for the three jet fighters deployed by their flight hours over one month.

The decision to send the three jet fighters close to the border areas, however, is questionable. It is stated that their main role is to strengthen the naval patrols. With supporting evidence or solid grounds to show that their presence in the border areas was militarily and strategically urgent in view of the insurgents’ air warfare capability, the deployment of the three jet fighters would be justifiable.

However, based on media coverage of the armed conflict in the southern Philippines, the insurgents’ air combat capability shows it is far from necessary to deploy jet fighters there. Rather than deploying the highly expensive jet fighters to support the patrols, Indonesia should perhaps deploy less costly surveillance aircraft or even helicopters.

The trilateral maritime cooperation is indeed the most appropriate solution to combat the spread and potential spillover of the insurgency in the southern Philippines to Indonesia and Malaysia. However, there needs to be a thorough evaluation of the military forces involved, especially in regard to the necessity and urgency of equipment deployed.