Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has told Bersatu's policy and strategy bureau chief Rais Hussin to "chill".

She was responding to a report by Singaporean news outlet Today Online, which carried the headline: "Senior member of Mahathir's party warns Singapore of 'pain by a thousand cuts' for its stance on maritime dispute".

"Chill, man," she said on her official Facebook page, which has almost 50,000 followers.

Ho Ching is also the chief executive officer of Temasek Holdings, Singapore's state investment fund.

Today Online had based its report on Rais’ opinion piece, which was published today by Malaysiakini and The Malay Mail.

In the piece, Rais said: "There is nothing to gain by issuing threats to interdict Malaysian ships in Malaysian or Singaporean waters. What they will get is only pain by a thousand cuts".

However, Rais' overall commentary was making the case against an escalation of tensions between the two countries.

"It helps not to turn a spat into a spar. Because then what? Fight and tear at each other's faces? Everyone knows that wars are meant to make orphans of children.

"But then if Singapore feels that its 2019 election is the perfect time to flex its muscles, they should also know that such naked display of nationalism is bound to make Malaysians willing to do the same.

"And an eye for an eye makes the world go blind," he had said.

Singapore had accused Malaysia of altering the port limits for the Johor Bahru Port, and encroaching into its territorial waters.

However, Malaysia has denied this and stressed that Singapore's reclamation activities do not mean that its territorial borders have been extended.