NAVAL ASSETS. A chopper lands on BRP Davao del Sur, a Multi-purpose Attack Craft (MPAC) in a demo during the anniversary of the Philippine Navy at Sasa Wharf in Davao City on May 31, 2017. Photo by Manman Dejeto/Rappler

TARAKAN, Indonesia – Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines began joint naval patrols in their region Monday, June 19, as threats from extremist groups increase.

The "trilateral coordinated maritime patrol" was launched amid continuing battles between Philippine troops and terrorists loyal to the Islamic State (ISIS) group, who have seized part of the city of Marawi in Mindanao.

Indonesia's military chief Gatot Nurmantyo said the patrols are timely as his country tries to stop any militants from Marawi escaping to Indonesia while posing as refugees.

The 3 neighbors agreed in May 2016 to conduct the joint patrols and share intelligence, after a series of kidnaps of foreigners by the Abu Sayyaf, an terror group based mainly in the southernmost Philippine islands who beheaded several victims after ransoms were not paid.

"The series of piracy attacks accompanied by kidnappings that occurred frequently in the Sulu (Sea) waters have had a huge security impact on surrounding coastal countries ... and have pushed us to conduct a coordinated patrol among three countries," said Nurmantyo when the joint patrol was launched at the Indonesian island of Tarakan off Borneo island.

The 3 countries also set up maritime command centers – in Tarakan for Indonesia, Tawau for Malaysia and Bongao for the Philippines – to collect information and coordinate the patrols.

This will enable the closest ship from any nation to be sent to answer distress calls and allow for hot pursuit, Nurmantyo said.

The launch was attended by the 3 countries' defense ministers and marked by an Indonesian navy sail-past and a fly-past of Sukhoi fighter jets. – Rappler.com</s>(CNN) Three Southeast Asian nations have started trilateral naval patrols in the first concrete sign of cooperation against ISIS-inspired terror groups operating in the region.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia will begin joint patrols and information-sharing to curb the influence of local Islamist terror groups, according to a joint statement released by the three governments.

Southeast Asian terror cells aligned with the Iraq- and Syria-based group have been emboldened in recent years, culminating in a month-long battle for the city of Marawi on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines

The Trilateral Maritime Patrol Indomalphi -- whose name incorporates elements of each of the three countries' names -- was "initiated and implemented" by the governments of the "three in order to face the security challenges associated with each country's border waters," according to the statement.

The start of the initiative was marked with a ceremony aboard an Indonesian naval vessel in the Javanese province of North Kalimantan Monday, attended by the defense ministers of the three countries, alongside each nation's armed forces commander.

"The Trilateral Maritime Patrol Indomalphi is a concrete step taken by the three countries ... in maintaining stability in the region in the face of non-traditional real threats such as piracy, kidnapping, terrorism and other transnational crimes in regional waters," the statement said.

To implement the increased intelligence sharing and joint patrols, there will be a Maritime Command Center (MCC) in each nation -- Tarakan in Indonesia, Tawau in Malaysia and Bongao in the Philippines. The maritime patrols will also include air and land elements.

Chief among the issues that the Southeast Asian nations face is the rising threat of local terror groups from the three countries, who use the channels and inlets of the nations' coastlines on the Sulu Sea to move weapons, cash and personnel between the Indonesian island of Java, Malaysia's Sabah province and the Philippines' Mindanao, a large southern island with a large Muslim population and a long history of religiously-motivated separatism.

Kidnappings, especially by Mindanao-based militants of Indonesian nationals, has also been a key issue in moving the initiative forward.

In addition to dozens of Indonesians, mainly fishermen and seamen, kidnapped in the past few years, the Sulu-based faction of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) recently kidnapped two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Philippines national from a marina in the southern Philippines.

"This is a warning so we can be ready to address this together because there are sleeper cells that are in each of our countries," Indonesian military chief Gen. Gatot Murmatyo said at the ceremony.

"With this trilateral cooperation it will ease the exchange of information because the speed and accuracy of information is very much needed to put in place measures and anticipate the possible escape of (militants) out of Marawi."

Despite the three nations' increasing issues with ISIS-inspired terrorism and their long unguarded coastlines bordering the Sulu Sea, long used for smuggling routes, active cooperation between the countries' governments has been lacking, Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy and Analysis of Conflict told CNN last week.

"Part of the problem is that borders in this archipelago are extremely porous. It's still possible to get in by boat. All three countries -- Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines -- are trying to strengthen their border controls and their immigration checks," the Jakarta-based regional terrorism expert said.

"One thing that's needed is a common watch list so that all three countries are operating from the same information about who may be dangerous. But regional cooperation is improving on that."</s>On Monday, after much anticipation and several delays, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines finally jointly and publicly launched trilateral patrols in Tarakan, Indonesia. The move is yet another sign of progress for an indigenous minilateral initiative that holds promise in spite of the lingering challenges it faces.

As I have noted before, the three Southeast Asian states had pledged to undertake trilateral patrols in the Sulu-Sulawesi seas – long a hub for transnational organized crime and terrorist threats – following a meeting in Bali last August. (See: “Confronting Threats in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas: Opportunities and Challenges”).

The move was hailed as an example of an indigenous, minilateral security arrangement within Southeast Asia, following the Malacca Strait Sea Patrols (MSSP) that had been set up by in the 2000s initially involving Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and later Thailand too.

Yet despite some progress, fully and publicly operationalizing the patrols has been unsurprisingly slow to take off due to several reasons, ranging from the very threats that the patrols are aiming to mitigate to more mundane rationales like the logistics of getting the ministers of the countries together and specifics related to the launching process itself (See: “Trilateral Patrols in the Sulu Sea: Still Coming Soon?”).

On Monday, the three countries announced the launching of the Trilateral Maritime Patrol (TMP) “Indomalphi” – a rather unwieldy name, which was adopted because it incorporates the beginning part of each of the three countries’ names – in Tarakan. The launch saw a series of military maneuvers involving ships and aircraft, a ceremony on board an Indonesian naval vessel attended by all three defense ministers and military chiefs, and a series of addresses and statements.

With the region consumed by the growing threat posed by the Islamic State in the southern Philippines as evidenced by the Marawi conflict over the past few weeks, all three sides were keen to highlight the arrangement’s significance in not just the Sulu Sea, but in the context of the terrorism challenge in Southeast Asia more broadly.

In terms of the future outlook for TMP beyond the launch, the general architecture has already been laid out, with a network of naval patrols and rotational air patrols supported by arrangements between the countries including on information-sharing and communications as well as three Maritime Command Centers (MCCs) in Tarakan, Tawau, and Bongao and a joint operations center. More collaboration is expected to further boost familiarization of personnel, assets, and process.

But as I noted recently, officials from the three sides have also wisely left room open for the initiative to broaden in terms of its scope and even membership given both the future potential and lingering challenges (See: “Sulu Sea Trilateral Patrols in the Spotlight at 2017 Shangri-La Dialogue”). The presence of Singapore and Brunei as observers was notable in this respect. The former’s involvement was particularly significant because of its membership in the MSSP in the 2000s as well as its Information Fusion Center (IFC) in Changi Naval Base, which, since its establishment in 2009, has become a crucial hub for strengthening multinational and interagency cooperation to counter a range of maritime security threats.</s>[TARAKAN, Indonesia] Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines began joint naval patrols in their region Monday as threats from extremist groups increase.

The "trilateral coordinated maritime patrol" was launched amid continuing battles between Philippine troops and Islamist gunmen loyal to the Islamic State group, who have seized part of the city of Marawi in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Indonesia's military chief Gatot Nurmantyo said the patrols are timely as his country tries to stop any militants from Marawi escaping to Indonesia while posing as refugees.

The three neighbours agreed in May 2016 to conduct the joint patrols and share intelligence, after a series of kidnaps of foreigners by the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist group based mainly in the southernmost Philippine islands who beheaded several victims after ransoms were not paid.

"The series of piracy attacks accompanied by kidnappings that occured frequently in the Sulu (Sea) waters have had a huge security impact on surrounding coastal countries ... and have pushed us to conduct a coordinated patrol among three countries," said Gen Nurmantyo when the joint patrol was launched at the Indonesian island of Tarakan off Borneo island.

The three countries also set up maritime command centres - in Tarakan for Indonesia, Tawau for Malaysia and Bongao for the Philippines - to collect information and coordinate the patrols.

This will enable the closest ship from any nation to be sent to answer distress calls and allow for hot pursuit, Gen Nurmantyo said.

The launch was attended by the three countries' defence ministers and marked by an Indonesian navy sail-past and a fly-past of Sukhoi fighter jets.</s>TARAKAN, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines launched coordinated maritime patrols on Monday to intensify their fight against Islamic militants who have laid siege to a southern Philippine city.

Defense ministers and military chiefs from the three countries launched the patrols in the Indonesian city of Tarakan in northern Borneo, just across the border from Sabah, Malaysia.

Indonesia’s military chief, Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, said Maritime Command Centers were also opened in the cities of Tawau in Malaysia and Bongao in the Philippines. The information and intelligence sharing centers establish designated sea lanes for ships in the seas along the countries’ borders to prevent Islamic State group-aligned militants in the southern Philippines from fleeing to neighboring nations.

The conflict in the Philippine city of Marawi has raised fears that the Islamic State group’s violent ideology is gaining a foothold in the country’s restive south, where Muslim separatists have fought for greater autonomy for decades.

Nurmantyo said the idea of the trilateral maritime patrols was initiated by the countries last year to maintain stability in the region in the face of threats such as piracy, kidnapping, terrorism and other crimes in regional waters.

“This trilateral cooperation is needed to anticipate infiltration possibility of IS-aligned militants from Marawi disguised as refugees,” Nurmantyo said in a speech.

Philippine military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the coordinated patrols aim to tighten protection along porous borders and prevent abductions at high seas. They will also help prevent the movement of fugitives seeking haven in a different country or planning to provide assistance to jihadists, he said.

He said immigration procedures should also be strengthened since they are the first line of defense in blocking militants who come in through the countries’ airports.

“The enemy we face right now is a different breed, and with the presence of foreign fighters in the area — a matter that we are trying to validate and prove based on whatever we recover from the field — is part of that continuing concern,” he told reporters in the Philippines. He was referring to the reported presence in Marawi of foreign fighters, who he said bring a kind of terrorism seen in the Middle East but not practiced by local militants.

Thousands of troops and police are struggling to end the 28-day siege by Muslim militants aligned with the Islamic State group. Officials said the fighting has left at least 26 civilians, 257 militants and 62 security forces dead.

Monday’s opening ceremony of the joint patrols was held on board an Indonesian warship and was attended by security officials from Singapore and Brunei, who acted as observers.

Authorities in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, have carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings on Bali in 2002 by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals that killed 202 people. In recent years, it has faced a new threat as the rise of the Islamic State group in the Middle East has breathed new life into local militant networks and raised concerns about the risk of Indonesian fighters returning home from fighting with IS.

Marawi is 750 kilometers (465 miles) northeast of Tarakan in Indonesia’s North Kalimantan province.

Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.</s>Southeast Asian neighbours Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines launched co-ordinated maritime patrols on Monday to intensify their fight against Islamic militants who have laid siege to a southern Philippine city. Defence ministers and military chiefs from the three countries launched the patrols in the Indonesian city of Tarakan in northern Borneo, just across the border from Sabah, Malaysia.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Daily Courier.</s>Ryamizard added that the defense pact can be further strengthened through enhanced cooperation in land and air patrols with other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

“Preserving ocean security in Asean is the responsibility of member countries. I’m certain we can all preserve the security and sovereignty of our respective territories,” Ryamizard said.

The defense minister officiated the joint sea patrols with Malaysian Defense Minister Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Philippine Defense Minister Delvin Lorenzana.

The three Southeast Asian nations also inaugurated a military command center in Tarakan, North Kalimantan, to serve as a center for intelligence exchanges. Similar centers will be built in Tawau, Malaysia, and Bongao, the Philippines.

“We hope that the establishment of the military command centers in the three countries will minimize the incidents that may occur in the territorial waters that are within the borders of our three countries,” Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said.

The inauguration was also attended by the chief of the Malaysian army, Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi, and Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) chief of staff Eduardo M. Año.

According to Gatot, the centers are a follow-up from a joint declaration by participating nations in May 2016 in Yogyakarta, which aimed to increase security in the Sulu Sea and surrounding areas in a show of solidarity between the neighboring countries.

The three Southeast Asian countries agreed to implement strategic preventive methods to meet security demands in the region, including by conducting coordinated sea patrols, providing immediate rescue to vessels in emergency situations and establishing a communication network to simplify coordination in emergencies.</s>Tarakan, N Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - The defense ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines inaugurated the trilateral coordinated maritime patrols of "Indomalphi" as a response to addressing security challenges in the countries maritime borders.



 Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, along with his Malaysian and Filipino counterparts Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Delvin N. Lorenzana, kicked off the inauguration by pressing a siren button on the Indonesian Navy Ship of Dr. Suharso-990 and witnessed the demonstration of "Indomalphi Quick Response" that included a sail past and flypast in Tarakan on Monday.



 Commander of the armed forces of each country, Maliki bin Osman as the representative of Singapores defense minister, and Bruneis Deputy Minister of Defense First Admiral (Rtd) Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohammad Tamit were also present on the occasion as observers.



 The trilateral maritime patrols of "Indomalphi" are concrete measures taken by the three members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), under its spirit of centrality, to maintain regional stability, which is currently facing real non-traditional threats, such as robbery, kidnapping, terrorism, and other transnational crimes in the waters.



 The three countries also realize the importance of this trilateral cooperation, which is implemented through practical and coordinated maritime patrols that also involve air support.



 Ryacudu expressed gratitude that after a lengthy process of coordination and negotiation, the joint patrols to maintain security in Sulu Sea and its surroundings would soon be implemented.



 "Maintaining maritime security in the ASEAN region is the responsibility of the ASEAN countries. I am sure they can all uphold their own territorial security and sovereignty," he emphasized.



 On the occasion, Ryacudu also expressed concern over the situation in Marawi, southern Philippines, which is currently affected by the conflict between ISIS-affiliated terrorist group and armed forces.



 Indonesia, in this case, will support all measures and actions taken by the Philippine military to combat terror acts in Marawi.



 "Terrorism, for whatever reason, is our common enemy; the enemy of humanity. Transnational cooperation is needed to fight terrorism whose forms are becoming increasingly dynamic and its scope is increasingly evolving," Ryacudu.(*)</s>Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have launched a joint maritime operation against Daesh-linked militants holed up in a southern Philippine city.

 An ongoing battle between the Daesh-linked Maute group and Philippines’ military in Marawi City in the Philippines has sparked concern in Malaysia and Indonesia that it might force the group members to flee the area and attempt to get into neighboring countries.

 The Southeast Asian neighbors’ defense ministers and military chiefs agreed on Monday in the Indonesian city of Tarakan to intensify their efforts in the fight against the Daesh-linked Takfiri extremist militants by launching the “trilateral coordinated maritime patrol.”

 The meeting of the three neighbors followed up on an earlier agreement in May 2016 to conduct joint patrols and share intelligence, after a series of kidnaps of foreigners by the Abu Sayyaf Takfiri terrorists, who are based mainly on the southernmost Philippine islands and who beheaded several victims after ransoms were not paid.

 The three countries agreed on Monday to set up coordinated maritime command centers in Tarakan for Indonesia, Tawau for Malaysia, and Bongao for the Philippines and collect information and arrange patrols from these locations.

 They also agreed to establish designated sea lanes for boats and ships in the seas along the countries’ borders to prevent the Daesh-aligned militants in the southern Philippines from fleeing to neighboring countries.

 The recent agreement came amid recent clashes in Marawi, which have raised fears that the mainly Middle East-based Daesh militant group is seeking to extend its reach into Southeast Asia.

 “The militants might flee the Philippines and be forced to cross the border into Indonesia,” Tarakan Air Force base chief Colonel Didik Krisyanto said on Sunday.

 This image, taken on June 18, 2017, shows an Indonesian delegation arriving at Tarakan Air Base in North Kalimantan to take part in a “trilateral coordinated maritime patrol.”

 Fighting has been going on for weeks between Philippine government forces and gunmen flying the black flags of Daesh.

 Meanwhile, in neighboring Indonesia, as well, Daesh has a confirmed presence and Indonesian officials say the group has created terror sleeper cells in the country.

 Radical militants have launched several terrorist attacks in the country over the past years. The latest incident were two bombing attacks at a bus station in eastern Jakarta on May 24, which killed three police officers. The attacks were claimed by Daesh.

 Daesh has been suffering increasing losses in Iraq and Syria, losing the territory it had occupied overrun in the two Arab countries.—Agencies</s>MANILA, Philippines—Three Southeast Asian nations under threat from Islamic State-linked militants launched joint maritime patrols in an effort to stop a conflict in the southern Philippines from spreading to other parts of the region.

The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia plan to police the Sulu and Celebes Seas, a vast area prone to piracy and kidnappings.

Security officials in Southeast Asia have long feared that Islamic...
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines begin joint patrols in the pirate havens within the Celebes and Sulu Seas.