Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea attend Exercise Bhakti Kanyini AusIndo 2024

As Indonesia prepares to partake in a Top End military exercise, two countries who share a tense history with Jakarta have been invited to observe.

Three nations will be participating in Exercise Bhakti Kanyini AusIndo 2024, with another three observing. Picture: Department of Defence.

Recovery operations, medical assistance and re-establishing water supplies to disaster-stricken communities are just some of the training objectives that Australian, US and Indonesian troops hope to achieve this month as part of a major military exercise taking place in the Territory.

This week, Exercise Bhakti Kanyini AusIndo 2024 (EX BKA 24) was officially launched at Parliament House in Darwin, signifying Australia and Indonesia’s commitment to reinforce its natural disaster practices.

However, for the first time since the exercise’s inception, the Top End activity will also include observers from the United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste – who will report their findings to their respective superiors following the activity.

Indonesian soldiers strike a pose at Parliament House in Darwin. Picture: Department of Defence.

The presence of PNG and Timorese officers in particular marks a rare occasion in which military officials from the two islander nations will rub shoulders with their Indonesian counterparts.

Timor-Leste’s relations with Indonesia have been tense for generations, with the tiny island having been occupied by its large neighbour for decades until 1999.

Papua New Guinea also shares a complex relationship with Indonesia, with Indonesia having colonised west Papua in the 1960s.

Lieutenant Colonel Hardian Saputra from TNI-AL addresses an audience at Parliament House. Picture: Department of Defence.

Australian and US military officials did not acknowledge the novelty of the South-East Asian trio attending the exercise simultaneously, however, and fixed their attention on the exercise itself.

“Combined exercises such as Exercise Bhakti Kanyini AusIndo 2024 are tremendously important in providing an effective response to natural disasters,” Commander Headquarters Northern Command Captain Mitchell Livingstone said.

“Designed to enhance interoperability between the three nations, the exercise is based around a major fictitious HADR event that has occurred in the Northern Territory.

“It will cover a number of scenarios, including the loss of essential services to a fictional remote community and will test and hone the response skills of the three nations involved.”

Commander Headquarters Northern Command, Captain Mitchell Livingstone at exercise’s launch. Picture: Department of Defence.

Previous iterations of the exercise have involved detailed scenarios involving floods, cyclones and even volcano disasters, with problem solvers faced with the daunting challenge of hundreds of thousands of people being displaced.

US logistics officer Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Bolz said her Marines would benefit from the experience.

“Exercise Bhakti Kanyini AusIndo 24 provides us with a unique opportunity to enhance our relationships and increase our interoperability with the Australian Defence Force and Indonesian National Armed Forces through the rehearsal of a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation,” she said.

“We are excited to work alongside our allies and partners to enhance our readiness and collectively increase our ability to provide medical support, general engineering, water purification, and motor transport support to humanitarian assistance disaster relief operations.”

Originally published as Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea attend Exercise Bhakti Kanyini AusIndo 2024