Divine fury will rain down upon Indonesia and Malaysia if either side decides to use military force to solve a territorial row in the Sulawesi Sea off Borneo, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today.

"Malaysia and Indonesia will be forsaken by God if we think about using troops to threaten each other," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters here.

Indonesia and Malaysia, Southeast Asia's only predominantly Muslim countries, agreed late Wednesday to use dialogue to end the dispute centred on Kuala Lumpur's granting of an oil concession in the contested area.

Warships from both countries have come into close contact in the Sulawesi Sea east of Borneo several times since February 16 when energy giant Shell was given a concession by Malaysia's state oil company Petronas.

Jakarta says the blocks awarded by Petronas are outside Kuala Lumpur's sovereignty.

Speaking after meeting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Syed Hamid reiterated a that neither Indonesia or Malaysia had any intention to use force as a solution.

"Our approach is cooperation, not through an approach by deploying our troops to threaten our neighbor. It will never happen, God willing," he said.

Necessary steps

Both Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta said Wednesday that they would "take necessary steps" to ease the recent tensions through peaceful means.

Malaysia and Indonesia have locked horns over the territory before. A dispute over the ownership of two islands ended in December 2002 with an International Court of Justice ruling that they belong to Malaysia.

Indonesia declared war against Malaysia following sporadic tensions over the future of Borneo island in 1963 after the British relinquished control. The conflict ended three years later as Jakarta focused on internal problems.