In making this clear, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Twitter: “Not true. I never said that.”

He added: “I’ve checked with Pak Ryamizard’s (Indonesian Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu) team. They said Indonesian media wrongly reported.”

According to a report in the New Straits Times, the controversy was partly in response to a report by Jakarta Greater, a military portal, which also quoted Ryamizard highlighting his close friendships with his counterparts in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Saying all he had to do was pick up the phone and call the defence ministers of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore to discuss issues, he went on to say that his close friendship with Hishammuddin even extended to text messages asking each other what they were up to.

However, the NST report said, it was the opening quote in that article that raised questions, where Ryamizard was quoted as saying he had contacted Hishammuddin about the RMAF C-130 transport plane and the latter had apologised for the incident.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post quoted Ryamizard as saying: “I coordinated with the Malaysian defence minister straight away. An apology [was made].”

The RMAF C-130 was flying near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands en route to Labuan on Sunday, when Indonesian air force jet fighters approached it for visual identification.

No untoward incident happened, and the RMAF C-130 was allowed to proceed to Labuan, said the report.

RMAF said it was investigating the incident, while Hishammuddin on Monday said Malaysian military aircraft, as stated in a treaty signed in 1982, could fly in the airspace above Indonesia’s territorial waters, provided that no weapons were fired.