(AFP) - Indonesia's Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab has urged the families of Malaysia's consular staff to return to West Kalimantan after they fled threatening demonstrations last week, local media reported.

"We hope that the family members of the Malaysian mission will return to Pontianak on Monday," Shihab told the Jakarta Post .

Pontianak is the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesian Borneo, which shares a land border with the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The diplomats' families were flown out by the Malaysian air force on the advice of local Indonesian authorities, following several days of protests at the consulate over the reported abuse of an Indonesian maid by her employer in Sarawak.

Shihab said the dispute had been resolved, with the Pontianak city police chief paying a claim as requested by the demonstrators, who had threatened the consulate.

"We settled the problem with the family and paid them some 59 million rupiah (US$5,000), then held a traditional ceremony to end the dispute," he told the Post .

Malaysia said on Friday that staff at two of its Indonesian consulates were on alert following threats of attacks by residents. However the missions would stay open, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.

Maid abused

A similar demonstration at the mission last August was also sparked partly by ill-treatment of an Indonesian maid working in Malaysia.

Albar warned that such incidents could strain relations between Indonesia and Malaysia.

"Attacking our consulates in Pontianak would not in any way help resolve any problems the Indonesians are facing here, but can cause a rift between the two countries," he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

The Star said Malaysia's consulate in the North Sumatran capital of Medan also faced similar threats following action against Indonesian fishermen caught encroaching into Malaysian waters.

A Malaysian court has begun the trial of 39 Indonesian fishermen who were arrested after a two-hour chase on Feb 2 in which the Malaysian navy fired on their boat and killed one crewman.