The prime minister said while Osman might have visited the Malaysian surveillance vessel off Johor Bahru Port without permission from Putrajaya, he was surprised by the reaction.

“I mean the reaction to his going there is quite severe as if he was going to war.

“He was going to a ship in neutral waters,” he said to a question from the floor after delivering a talk at the Oxford Union Society yesterday.

He was answering an audience member who said Osman had trespassed into Singapore’s territorial waters.

“It is not Singapore waters either, it is international waters and the menteri besar can go into international waters without Singapore sending warships to chase him away,” he said.

Wisma Putra had said it could not stop Osman from making the visit.

Singapore insisted that Osman had trespassed into its territorial waters and made a protest through a diplomatic note to Wisma Putra dated Jan 11, and also postponed the 14th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia (JMCIM) that was scheduled for Jan 14.

Osman has since denied he trespassed into Singapore waters, saying his visit to the MV Pedoman vessel was to observe Malaysia’s security teams doing their job.