The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) held a joint counterterrorism exercise on Friday to anticipate the possibility of terror attacks that could undermine stability in both countries.

The joint-exercise, named the '2013 Malindo Darsasa [Malaysia-Indonesia Land, Sea and Air]' runs until June 12 in Medan, North Sumatra.

As many as 1,185 TNI and 293 MAF soldiers are involved in the exercise.

TNI chief Adm. Agus Suhartono said the joint training this year was focused on Malaysia-Indonesia (Malindo) special forces in dealing with terrorism and disaster response. Agus added the main goal of the joint-exercise was to assess the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the Malindo 16 and 18 on terror prevention.

'The SOP is relatively new so it must be tested in the field,' Agus told reporters after opening the joint-exercise at the Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan.

Indonesia is deploying a number of its assets, including Bell-412 and Mi-17 helicopters, KRI Makassar-590 and KRI Imam Bonjok-383 warships, and C-130 Hercules, Boeing 737 and Fokker 28 transport planes.

The joint-exercise is slated for June 11 and 12 in the three locations of Belawan Port, Polonia Airport and Aryaduta Hotel in Medan.

Agus said training materials included raids against terrorists in buildings, ships and planes.

He added this year's joint-exercise was expected to be the cutting edge for both countries in combating actual challenges and threats from terrorism, which is a common enemy for Indonesia and Malaysia. 'The threat of terrorism could appear at any time because we can sense its symptoms,' Agus told The Jakarta Post.

Agus said it should be acknowledged that counterterrorism had progressed rapidly in terms of scale or methods, and could not be resolved by one country alone.

He said that to fight terrorism in bilateral and regional contexts, cooperation coordinated strategically and comprehensively was required by forging inter-military and trans-national cooperative ties.

Therefore, added Agus, the Malindo Darsasa joint-exercise must be further developed and improved in the context of strategy, methodology, technique, tactics and approach to facing the threats of terrorism.

MAF chief Gen. Tan Sri Dato Sri Zulkifeli expressed his happiness with the joint-exercise.

'The Malindo joint-exercise was held every four years in the past but from this year it will be held every three years,' he said

He said the joint-training had been taking place for a long time and was absolutely unrelated to the recent Lahat incident in Sabah, East Malaysia.

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