Jakarta – Illegal loggers are suspected of moving border posts between Indonesia and Malaysia in the rainforests of Borneo island, causing Indonesia to lose some territory, the government said yesterday.

"There are now many parts of Indonesian territory that are in Malaysia," Defence Minister Mohammad Mahmud told reporters at the presidential palace. "To deal with this border matter, the President has ordered his ministers to take immediate steps," he added.

The minister said Indonesia's military has claimed that private companies have shifted the posts and that hundreds of hectares of Indonesian land had been lost in this way. He did not name the companies involved or their country of origin. A 1,300-km-long border separates Indonesian West and East Kalimantan provinces from the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

The region contains one of the world's greatest jungle wildernesses, which environmentalists warn is fast disappearing because of illegal logging.

Mr Mohammad said he would discuss the border problem with Malaysian authorities soon. "We will discuss again the problem of our border in East Kalimantan to make a new agreement, new border lines and together lay down border markers," he said.

The two countries have clashed several times over their borders in Borneo, including in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province. Each side has accused the other of moving border markers.