Come next Tuesday, 46 students of SRJK Sin Chung, Penang, will go to classes like all the other schoolchildren to begin their new academic year. But there is a problem - their school might be demolished on that day.

The primary school in Kepala Batas on the mainland is currently embroiled in a land tussle with property developer Motif Era.

The developer had obtained a court order to clear the land for its mixed-development project, including demolishing the school, but they have been unsuccessful to proceed with their plan over the past four months due to stiff protest from residents there.

The Butterworth Sessions Court will decide on Jan 3 whether to allow the developer to go ahead with the demolition or wait until a new school has been constructed.

A piece of land adjacent to the old school has been ear-marked by the developer for the new building. However, the building plans for the replacement school had yet to be approved by the local council.

School committee director Ooi Dze Kuan told malaysiakini that the 46 students and six teachers will report to school on Jan 3.

"If the court rules in favour of the developer and they want to execute the court order to demolish the school, we are ready with our back-up plan, of which I am cannot divulge for now," he said.

Road blocked

Earlier this month, developer Motif Era had tried to demolish the school - located in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's electoral constituency - but failed after residents and politicians from both ruling and opposition parties mounted a strong protest.

The developer has twice fenced up the school compound. The fence was torn down by the local council each time. Police had to be later stationed at the school to prevent the developer from boarding up the school for the third time.

The only road leading up to the school has since been blocked by a makeshift drain dug by the developer.

Motif Era had earlier this week threatened to cite five politicians - three from ruling parties and two from the opposition - who had criticised the demolition for contempt for court but the plan fizzled out after their own lawyers failed to turn up in court.

Elaborating on the next course of action, Ooi said the school is awaiting the developer to open the road to the site of the new school so that construction can begin.

He added that the state government might take legal action to force the developer to reopen the road.

At present, the makeshift drain has also blocked the access between the existing school building and its canteen but the school management will make arrangement for the canteen operator to temporarily set up shop in the main school building.

In a related development, nine new students - including four Malay Malaysians - have registered for Standard One at the school.

Out of the 46 students in the new academic year, 18 of them are Malay Malaysians while the rest are Chinese Malaysians.