Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was considering a proposal from Singapore that they ease a three-decades-old ban on each other's newspapers.

The proposal was made by Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew during a visit to Malaysia last week.

"We can consider that. But we have yet to decide," Abdullah was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency late Friday.

The two nations have endured an uneasy relationship since Singapore's ejection from the Malaysian federation in 1965.

War of words

The ban was put in place just before the May 1969 general elections in Malaysia, said Shamsul Amir Baharuddin, sociology lecturer at the National University of Malaysia.

The aim was to reduce an escalation of a war of words between them after Singapore was ejected from the Malaysian federation, he said.

The neighbours on Tuesday signed an agreement settling a long-running dispute over land reclamation works.

It was the first time they had settled one of several major disputes between them and senior officials from both sides said they were optimistic the other issues could also be amicably resolved.