Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Republic of Indonesia; Sunday, 6th May 2018 – Huge crowd flocked the city of Mataram to participate in the activities organised in conjunction with the 3rd MNEK 2018. The activities which included cycling, 5km and 10km run, and culinary activity.The Commander of Royal Brunei Navy (RBN), First Admiral Pengiran Dato Seri Pahlawan Norazmi took part in the cycling around the city of Maratam led by Chief of Indonesian Navy (IDN), Admiral Ade Supandi.
1,992 participated in the running event where 492 ran the 5km and 1,500 people ran the 10km. Both event started and ended at the Islamic Centre. Runners comprised of the People of Mataram and participating nations for MNEK 2018. In promoting participating nations food, a culinary activity was also held in the Islamic Centre. These activities are meant to enliven the city of Mataram and at the same time to give exposure to Mataram’s culture.
The highlight of the day was the officiating of MNEK 2018 Monument. The monument is a Lighthouse standing at 11.28m high. It symbolises a direction and a safety feature. At the base of this monument, plague signed by all Chief of Navies and representative were planted as a remembrance to the exercise conducted in the city of Mataram.
Concurrently, ships and staff participants involved in the Exercise portion of the KOMODO Exercise, a Command Post Exercise (CPX) was conducted at the Golden Palace Hotel. Here, scenarios involving MIO and HADR Operations were discussed in further details, with regular injections and situation updates were given to be considered during the carefull planning and future execution of the exercise during the Sea Phase. Planning and discussions were made at an operational level, with participants filling the roles as staff officers for Task Force and Task Unit level. At the end of the planning and discussion, a brief was given to the Commander Task Force.
Bilateral meeting between RBN and IDN was held at Camar 1, Golden Palace Hotel in the afternoon. Both chiefs expressed satisfaction on the cordial relationship. Amongst discussed was enhancing the level of naval working group as an avenue to discuss strategic cooperation.
Bilateral meeting with Republic of Singapore Navy was conducted right after meeting with Indonesian Navy. Rear Admiral Thimothy Lo, Chief of Staff – Naval Staff brought up with regards to enhancing the level of exercise. Both sides agreed to discuss further during the upcoming Naval Working Group hosted by RBN.
Chief of IDN hosted Gala Dinner at Lombok Raya Hotel Ballroom, Mataram in appreciation to all participating nations. He explained the important of MNEK to bridge between symposiums where practical cooperation is needed in building confidence. He stressed that by conducting this exercise would indicate the level of readiness and response in this region in the support of HADR. This would put the navy as the entrusted organisation in the support of any calamities.
