Forty-six primary students will know if their school still exist tomorrow when the Butterworth Sessions Court decides on whether a property developer has the right to demolish it.

Judge Julie Lack, after hearing from lawyers representing the contending parties - SRJK Sin Chung and developer Motif Era Sdn Bhd - said that she would make her decision on the matter tomorrow.

Earlier today, the judge urged both parties to negotiate a settlement, which subsequently failed.

Penang state executive councillor Dr Toh Kin Woon, who attended today's court proceedings, told malaysiakini that both sides were advised to look for a possible out-of-court settlement as whatever decision the judge was to make tomorrow would result in one side losing out.

SRJK Sin Chung school committee director Ooi Tze Kuan confirmed the school's representatives had a final round of negotiations with Motif Era this morning but they were unable to break the deadlock between them.

Ooi said that the developer was unwilling to budge from its stand that the school had 24 hours to vacate its premises so that demolition work could go ahead

The Chinese primary school has been embroiled in a land tussle with Motif Era over the past few months which saw threats of legal action against a number of politicians and the police being called in to diffuse that heated stand-off between the developer and residents.

The vernacular school - located in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's electoral constituency of Kepala Batas - ran into difficulties when Motif Era obtained a court order to clear the land for its mixed-development project.

Another site has been ear-marked for a replacement school but its construction was held back as the building plan has yet to be approved by the government.

Govt to blame

On Dec 2, the developer tried to tear down the school building but failed after residents and both ruling and opposition politicians 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 sole road leading to the school has since been blocked by a makeshift drain dug by the developer.

Last week, the developer had threatened to cite five politicians who had criticised the demolition - three from Barisan Nasional and two from the opposition - for contempt of court but the plan fizzled out after their own lawyers failed to turn up in court.

Motif Era had argued in court that the fault of the problem was with the Penang government.

It revealed that the company had surrendered the replacement land to the state government three years ago but the latter had been slow in approving the construction of the new school.

Toh, who is a member of the state government, conceded that the authorities shared part of the blame but added that it was not proper for the developer to demolish the primary school when the replacement building is not ready.