Indonesia's defence minister said Wednesday that his Malaysian counterpart had apologised for recent incidents related to their joint border.

"The Malaysian defence minister has expressed his apologies to me on the recent Ambalat incident and promised to warn his subordinates," Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters.

Malaysian warships and planes were reported to have crossed into Indonesian territorial waters earlier this month near an oil exploration area known as the Ambalat Block, off Borneo island.

The block has been a source of tension in the past. Bilateral relations hit a low in 2005 when warships from the two sides brushed in the area.

Another dispute over the ownership of two islands ended in December 2002 when the International Court of Justice ruled they belonged to Malaysia.