Johor Menteri Besar Osman Sapian insisted again today that he did not trespass into Singaporean waters last week.

All he did, he said, was to watch Malaysian security teams doing their job.

Osman stressed that his Wednesday visit to the MV Pedoman vessel was also not meant as a provocation, as the Foreign Ministry was aware of it.

“I had no intention to provoke or to trespass. We can show the plan. 

"The foreign minister and deputy foreign minister contacted me to ask why I wanted to go. I said if I didn’t, then people will say the menteri besar is not doing anything.

“But if that caused Singapore to cancel the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM) annual meeting on Jan 13 and 14, then that's up to them,” he told reporters after a Chinese New Year event at Taman Impian Emas, Johor Bahru.

Earlier today, the Singapore Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement that it had proposed for the JMCIM, scheduled for Monday, to be postponed and that Malaysia had agreed to it.

- Bernama