Malaysia has called on Singapore to stop land reclamation work along their narrow maritime border despite a ruling by an international tribunal that the island state can go-ahead pending arbitration.

"If they continue with their work, it will be too late. By the time we have a final decision, the reclamation might have done permanent damage," said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"For us, what we want is for them to stop work now, and then we will go for the final decision," Mahathir told reporters Wednesday night.

He was reacting to a ruling by the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea that Singapore could continue its land reclamation work in the sea off Malaysia's southern Johor state.

The tribunal also ruled, however, that the neighbours should appoint a panel of independent experts to examine Singapore's project which Malaysia claims would damage the environment.

Seeing the finer points

The court ordered Singapore to ensure in the meantime that its construction work has no irreparable effects "on the rights of Malaysia or serious harm to the marine environment" in the affected waters.

Malaysia would study the finer points of the decision made by the tribunal before deciding on the next course of action, Mahathir said.

"We will get the details and see what we can do."

The land reclamation case had been simmering for months, with the Malaysian government saying it affected the environment, the livelihood of Malaysian fishermen and the maritime border.

Officials have also charged that the project could obstruct ships headed for ports in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, which are being promoted to rival Singapore's port.

The distance between Singapore's Tekong island and Malaysia's Pularek naval training base at Tanjong Pengelih has been reduced to 0.75 kilometres from 1.8 kilometres due to reclamation work in the area, The Star newspaper said.

Relations between the neighbours have often been prickly since Singapore became independent of the Malay Federation in 1965.

Water supplies from Malaysia to Singapore, a proposed bridge linking the countries and the use of Malaysian airspace by Singaporean aircraft are among other irritants in bilateral ties. - AFP