Oscar Coleman with wires – Indonesia has begun its first-ever joint naval drills with Russia while simultaneously conducting military exercises with Australian forces.

Analysts say the exercises are part of Indonesia's efforts to maintain a balanced foreign policy.

The five days of drills with the Russian Navy began on Monday and will take place in two phases at a naval base in Surabaya and in the Java Sea.

President Prabowo Subianto has pledged closer ties with Russia on defence, in his bid to forge links with any country as part of his nation's long-held non-aligned foreign policy.

"Russian warships came from afar to Indonesia and conducted joint exercises for the first time that seek to improve diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Russia, especially the navies," Indonesian navy commander Denih Hendrata said.

The statement quoted a Russian delegation representative as saying that the exercise was designed for the two navies to exchange knowledge.

Sergey Tolchenov, Russia's ambassador to Indonesia, said the drills were not aimed at any country and could "ensure security and stability in the region".

Indonesia-Australia drills also underway

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) began their largest combined joint activity in recent years, named Exercise Keris Woomera, on Sunday.

The exercise has been facilitated by a recently upgraded defence agreement between Australia and Indonesia.

Some 2,000 military personnel from the two nations are participating in Indonesia, while about 35 members of the Indonesian military will deploy onboard HMAS Adelaide, training with ADF personnel in Darwin.

The ADF said the bilateral exercise would feature air, maritime, amphibious, and follow-on land operations, a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief evacuation scenario and a combined joint live-fire exercise.

"By training together, our forces build upon shared tactics, techniques, and procedures to enhance interoperability and readiness to respond to shared security challenges in the region," said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations.

Jakarta wants to be a 'friend' to all

Analysts said the bilateral exercises with Russia signalled Indonesia's willingness to befriend any country.

"This can mean that Indonesia wants to work with everybody," said Yohanes Sulaiman, associate professor in international relations at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani.

Mr Sulaiman said there were still questions around Mr Prabowo's grand strategy in foreign policy and that the Indonesia-Russia drills may be Russia's way of showing that it still has friends.

Mr Prabowo notably called Russia a "great friend" when he visited Moscow in July.

And the president has stressed repeatedly that Indonesia will befriend all countries and not join any military bloc.

Last weekend, during a forum with his supporters and political parties, Mr Subianto said that he couldn't say no when "two powers" – referring to China and the US – invited him to visit them.

"For the sake of my people, I need to maintain good relationship with all countries," he said.

"Because Indonesia takes a path where a thousand friends are too little and one enemy is too much," he said, adding that he did not want to get involved in any conflicts.

Greg Fealy, emeritus professor of Indonesian politics at the Australian National University, said Indonesia's drills with Russia fit with its traditional diplomatic strategy of "free and active", or bebas-aktif.

"He keeps on saying that Indonesia wants to be friends with a thousand countries and enemies to no-one, and so working with countries like Russia is the kind of thing that he thinks will prove the independence of Indonesia's foreign policy," he said.

The veteran foreign policy analyst said Indonesia had long enjoyed good relations with Russia, and the fact both military drills – with Russia and Australia – took place this week could demonstrate the nation's balance in international relations.

"I suspect in Prabowo's mind, this shows even-handedness, and shows Indonesia's refusal to be captured by one particular side.

"The fact that we have military exercises [between Indonesia and Russia] takes it to a different level, but that Indonesia has quite good defence relations with Russia is nothing new."

'Friends to all'

In a shift from the previous Widodo government, Indonesia's new administration has expressed a strong desire to join the BRICS group of major emerging economies, which includes Russia and China as key members.

"It is a quite significant policy reversal that Prabowo has made over the foreign policy that Jokowi had pursued," Professor Fealy said.

"The fact that Prabowo has so quickly declared Indonesia's keenness to be a member of BRICS shows... an even-handed, indeed friends to all, kind of policy.

"I suspect he's got a view of the more the merrier. The more groups that he's involved with, the more opportunities there are for Indonesia to prosper."

Indonesia refused to take sides in the great power competition between Washington and Beijing – or Moscow – and Professor Fealy expected the country's neutral foreign policy to continue.

But can Indonesia keep everybody happy?

Professor Fealy said that "much depends" upon how events develop, but there would be immense pressure on the country to take "a firm stance" in the event of a broader regional conflict.

"For example, if there was a worsening of the tensions between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, at what point in time would Indonesia – as really the most significant member of ASEAN – feel the need to take a strong stand against what either the Chinese or the Philippines governments were doing?

"It would have to come down on one side or the other. It would try to avoid that.

"It's those sorts of events where Indonesia could well find itself at a disadvantage if it didn't take a strong line, particularly if one side was seen to be the aggressor."

Despite Indonesia's previous clashes with Chinese boats in the South China Sea, the country appears determined to maintain and improve relations with emerging countries as well as the West.

"Prabowo is not making any apologies for his policy on BRICS and also for the joint exercises with the Russian navy – just as he's not [apologising] for his exercises with the Australians," Professor Fealy said.

"This is going to be, for the time being, the policy that he's going to pursue." (ABC/wires)

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-05/indonesia-military-exercises-russia-australia/10456119