Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who made this call, said the study was conducted at Singapore's request and it had shown that the land reclamation work was hurting Malaysia's ecology and sea lanes.

'The Cabinet has asked us to notify Singapore of the report, and we expect them to stop work immediately,' he said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting his British counterpart Jack Straw at his office here, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid said his ministry, Wisma Putra, was preparing a detailed report to be submitted to Singapore in the next few days.

'We will submit to them the relevant part of the report which clearly reveals the impact of the reclamation work, to show them what we have found,' he said.

He declined to elaborate on the scientific findings, however, saying that Kuala Lumpur wanted to inform Singapore of the details before taking any further action.

'We expressed our view that the reclamation work has adverse impacts and now we have proof to support our contention,' he said.

The minister also said there should be close consultations between both nations on reclamation, despite it being carried out on Singapore territory, adding that such work had long-term negative implications for Malaysia.

'We are close neighbours, very close indeed, and they must realise that certain things which are done on their side would also have some effects on us,' he said.

Last Saturday, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid said Singapore was adamant about continuing with its reclamation work around Pulau Tekong, although Malaysia had furnished proof of its impact on the environment.

'They asked us to present proof and they said Malaysia had no right to interfere as the reclamation was in Singapore waters. Whatever they say, we will continue to submit our scientific findings to them to support our claims,' he said.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry said it would submit a separate letter of protest to Singapore over the same issue, claiming that the reclamation work was also affecting the route of Royal Malaysian Navy vessels at the RMN's Recruit Training Centre (Pularek) in Tanjung Pengelih, Johor.

Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak said the letter would be submitted through Wisma Putra in the next few days.

He said the Malaysian government would decide whether to include a claim for compensation in its protest letter.

'The question of assessment and the like needs a bit of time, in order to determine the impact from aspects that can be assessed.

'We have to wait. It is subject to the government's decision on the scope of our protest,' he said after a function in Pekan, Pahang.

Asked about Malaysia's claims on Pedra Branca, he said the RMN had always been conducting patrols in the waters around the island.

'There are patrols... we have been conducting patrols, but we do it properly in a non-aggressive manner, like closing our guns and radars.

'We conduct patrols not to fight, but to show our presence because the island belongs to us,' Datuk Seri Najib said.

-- New Straits Times, Bernama