¡¡JAKARTA, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The disputes over ownership of thewaters near the Kalimantan Island escalated as an Indonesian official said here Friday that Malaysia's claim of the waters lacked legitimate support.

    The validity of the map which Malaysia used to support its claim was questionable, and Malaysia, which was not an archipelagocountry, could not use a clause of an archipelago country's law todetermine its water boundary, said Marty Natalegawa, spokesman ofthe Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    "The map is not only questioned by Indonesia, but also the countries in the Southeast Asian region as well as Britain, " he said.

    Indonesia would persistently express rejection over any step taken by Malaysia to defend the claims, but it was also ready to settle the dispute through diplomatic channel, he added.

    Malaysia won ownership of the two islands through a trial by the International Court of Justice in Hague. They stand northeast to the Kalimantan Island, which belongs to Indonesia.

    On February 16, Malaysia's state-owned oil company the Petronasawarded a contract to the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell to drill oilin the waters northeast to the Kalimantan Island. The Indonesian government had awarded a contract to the US oil firm Uno Coal years ago to do similar things in the same area.

    The Indonesian Government then lodged a protest against the Malaysian Government over the Petronas' action.

    On February 25, the Malaysian Government responded to the protest by showing a map issued in 1979 and insisted that the waters belong to itself. Enditem