The eight dominant constituents of the semi-diurnal and diurnal tides plus accurate phase information have been implemented in a global version of the Modular Ocean Model (version 4), developed by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. The simulated tidal signal in the Southeast Asian region has been validated with observations, indicating that the amplitudes and phases are reasonably well reproduced by the model. Tidal currents play an essential role in transport and mixing processes in the Indonesian Seas and off the Australian Northwest Shelf. Vertical tidal mixing introduces a distinct signal in the surface mixed-layer and upper ocean temperature. The results suggest that application of explicit tidal forcing in operational Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs) should become feasible in the near-term future.