JOHOR BARU: Johor Umno Youth believes that state Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian has been caught lying following a statement from Wisma Putra that it never gave any "unofficial blessing" for him to visit Johor Baru port in Malaysia's territorial waters.

Its chief Mohd Hairi Md Shah said as the main leader in Johor, Osman should admit his mistake and apologise to the rakyat in the state and Malaysians in general.

"He (Osman) is the cause for Malaysia-Singapore relations to be strained again.

"Why, before this, Osman arrogantly claimed he had called up the Foreign Minister for 40 minutes and his deputy said he already got their 'blessing' for the trip," MOhd Hairi said here on Friday (Jan 18).

He said it was funny now that the ministry had issued a statement to debunk Osman's claim.

He said the wing believed Osman's action at the time, place and location was wrong and should never have been done as it was in the "cooling" period agreed by both nations.

On Jan 8, Malaysia and Singapore agreed for both sides to immediately and simultaneously suspend Malaysia's permanent restricted area over Pasir Gudang and Singapore's implementation of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedure for Seletar Airport.

The ministry said that it received a Diplomatic Note from Singapore dated Jan 11 protesting Osman's actions, and consequently postponed the 14th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM), originally scheduled for Monday (Jan 14).

The Star reported that Singapore wanted the meeting postponed because it claimed Osman had trespassed into Singapore waters on Jan 9 during a visit to Johor Baru port.

The Johor Mentri Besar has since insisted that he did not trespass into Singapore waters and that all he did was watch Malaysian security teams do their job.

Osman's boat ride came days after both countries agreed to measures to find mutual agreeable solutions and to de-escalate tensions over bilateral disputes.