The Fourth Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo (MNEK) took place in Makassar from Monday until Thursday involving 2,500 personnel from 36 countries, including Indonesia. Some 25 warships from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam took part in the exercise.

The Indonesian Navy deployed the largest number with eight warships of various types, followed by Russia, which sent three vessels to the biennial exercise. China, Malaysia and Singapore each sent two while Australia, India, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, US and Vietnam deployed one each.

There was also a naval aviation component in the exercise with the Philippines, Russia and the US sending a helicopter each while Indonesia deployed seven airplanes and three helicopters.

Also participating were contingents from Brazil, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, France, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

What makes the MNEK special is that Indonesia consciously decided from the first edition in 2014 to focus on military operations other than war (MOOTW) activities, especially the use of military assets in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), search and rescue and maritime security.

This focus is beneficial for navies from the Southeast Asian region because they can work together to actually implement the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response. The region is prone to natural disasters, which in the recent past have resulted in large-scale devastation claiming many lives.

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