During a sea transit in HMAS Adelaide, soldiers from both Australia and Indonesia welcomed the opportunity to receive Friday prayers from ADF Muslim Chaplain Flight Lieutenant Abdul Kader.
Though operational tempo has been high for these ADF and Indonesian ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Armed Forces (TNI) personnel, the ship ensured that there was time and an appropriate space – the officers’ dining room – for an important weekly Muslim ritual.
TNI and ADF in Adelaide have been living, learning, working, and now, praying together since leaving Darwin, bound for Java, Indonesia, for a series of bilateral training activities known as Exercise Keris Woomera.
Chaplain Kader said it was a privilege to deliver the service to a multicultural congregation of worshippers in what is an important and regular occasion for people of the Muslim faith.
“Today we are undertaking the weekly, Friday congregational prayer, which is very important for Muslims,” Chaplain Kader said.
“It’s very important that the personnel embarked for Keris Woomera can practise their faith, and I’m sure our TNI friends appreciated the opportunity to have their religious needs fulfilled.
“They will now be able to return to their families and communities and share the fact that, despite being at sea, they could offer Jumu’ah prayers with an Imam.”
‘We are extremely grateful to the ADF for providing us an Imam during this maritime transit.’
There was gratitude from both nations’ soldiers – to the ADF for understanding Muslim religious needs by embarking an Imam, and to the TNI for welcoming Chaplain Kader so warmly and accepting his religious leadership.
According to TNI Captain Adam Keulana, being able to celebrate the holy day with Jumu’ah prayers while at sea was a welcome and unexpected development.
“We are extremely grateful to the ADF for providing us an Imam during this maritime transit,” Captain Keulana said.
“We appreciate the ADF providing space for us to conduct our Friday prayers, which is crucial for Muslims.”
The prayers were so well received that the embarked TNI requested a copy of Chaplain Kader’s sermon be translated into Bahasa Indonesia for wider dissemination.
Keris Woomera, a component of the ADF’s wider Indo-Pacific Endeavour, is a bilateral amphibious exercise and represents the largest combined joint activity with Indonesia in recent history.
By training together, forces from Australia and Indonesia can build upon shared tactics, techniques and procedures to enhance interoperability and readiness to respond to shared regional security challenges.
Indo-Pacific Endeavour supports the Australian Government’s focus on deepening diplomatic and defence partnerships across south-east Asia and the north-east Indian Ocean.
