Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand ramped up their war of words Tuesday as Kuala Lumpur said it would not back away from voicing its opinions over deteriorating bilateral relations, reports said.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was "very disappointed" with remarks about Malaysia by his Thai counterpart Kantathi Suphamongkhon, said the New Straits Times.

"As much as I do not intend to teach him, he should not be telling me what I can and cannot say or do," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying.

"He is trying to show us how to conduct our foreign affairs," he said.

"We do have our own opinions. How can they stop us from saying what we feel?" he added.

Syed Hamid told the daily that Kantathi should not dissect every word that he had said.

"If they don't like to be told how to conduct their foreign affairs, which we have no intention of doing, then they should not tell us how to conduct ours," he said.

Aims to criticise

Kantathi on Monday criticised Syed Hamid after he was quoted as urging Bangkok to be more "mature" over a boycott of Thai goods by Malaysian activists.

"It's clear to see that the statement or comment by Malaysia aims to criticise Thailand, rather than show sincerity and a willingness to solve the problem together," said Kantathi.

Bilateral relations have deteriorated since 131 Thai Muslims from southern Narathiwat province fled into Malaysia in August, triggering a tussle over the fate of the group.

Separately, Syed Hamid told the official Bernama news agency that Malaysia had a pragmatic approach to its foreign policy and only took an interest in Thailand's internal affairs if they impacted on Malaysia's security.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying by the Sun newspaper that Malaysia had "no intentions whatsoever of interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign countries".

When asked about the status of the 131 Thai Muslims, he said: "The 131 are not treated as refugees. They are being held for violating our immigration laws".

Najib added that the military from both countries were still interviewing the 131 Thais, but that there was no time-frame set to complete the probe.