The latest issue to rise up out of the simmering tensions between the Southeast Asian nations centers on 200 hectares (494 acres) of land that Malaysia's national KTM railway owns in Singapore.

Part of the KTM land is in Tanjong Pagar, prime real estate in Singapore's business district, where Malaysia still has an immigration and customs checkpoint.

Passengers getting on the train at Tanjong Pagar enter a twilight zone of being in Malaysian territory while physically still being surrounded by Singapore.

The anomaly is a throwback to the 1965 separation of the two countries under which KTM held onto its prize railway possession thanks to a 999-year lease signed during the British colonial days.

Singapore has long wanted to push back the checkpoint to the Malaysian border and, in a sign of increasing frustration over a lack of progress since the two nations signed a compromise agreement in 1990, has begun pushing for an international verdict.

Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister, Shunmugam Jayakumar, told parliament Thursday the government had sent a note to Malaysia on September 26 calling for the issue to go to be resolved internationally.

"The Singapore government's position is that this issue can be easily and amicably resolved by international adjudication at the International Court of Justice or international arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration," Jayakumar said.

Jayakumar said Malaysia had yet to respond to last month's note.

The two nations are already locked in legal battle over land reclamation work being done by Singapore in waters between their borders, with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea currently considering the matter.

Other sources of tension include the price of raw water Malaysia supplies to Singapore, a prospective bridge linking the countries, the use of Malaysian airspace by Singaporean aircraft and ownership of a rocky islet.

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