Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Defence Minister Najib Razak made the comments in response to reports that Singapore had told Malaysia to stop intrusions near the island, known to Singapore as Pedra Branca and to Malaysia as Batu Puteh.

Singapore's Defence Minister Tony Tan was quoted by Malaysia's official news agency as warning Kuala Lumpur that it would have to bear responsibility for any "tense situations" that arose and the increased risk of "unintended incidents".

Abdullah told Bernama that Singapore should not make threatening statements. Both countries had agreed to refer their claims to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the ownership of the island was still in dispute.

"They understand that and so do we. So, they should not have said that it's not right for us to go to Pulau Batu Puteh and that we have intruded.

"This is not the time to make such statements, statements in the form of threat or intimidation."

Najib said Tan's statement was "provocative", but stressed that Malaysia's approach to the dispute was non-aggressive.

"We have a right to continue the patrols and these patrols conducted by Malaysia are not something new but have been going on since 1964.

"It is incumbent upon us to behave in a professional manner and we shouldn't show any aggressive intent whatsoever. I think this applies to both sides. And definitely we are not going to war over this.

"The patrols that we have conducted and will conduct are non-aggressive in that, for example, we don't show our cannons, missiles or radar," Najib said.

Tan told parliament on Monday: "There were three violations by Malaysian state vessels over the last week of December. There were five more violations last week.

"In these incidents, the Malaysian vessels came close to Pedra Branca and conducted various activities," he said, pledging that Singapore's navy would defend the country's sovereignty.

The two countries have agreed to sign a pact to refer the dispute over the rocky outcrop on their maritime border to the International Court of Justice on February 6.

Singapore said it has exercised sovereign rights on the islet since the 1840s when the British colonial government occupied it and constructed a lighthouse. Malaysia maintains it has had sovereignty over the territory since the early 16th century.

The two sides have had a testy relationship since Singapore was expelled from the Malaysian Federation and gained independence in 1965.

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