KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Ahead of a highly-anticipated talk in Universiti Sabah Malaysia (UMS) tonight, prominent Universiti Malaya (UM) student leader Fahmi Zainol and nine other undergraduates have landed themselves in police custody in Sabah.

The 23-year-old student activist told Malay Mail Online that he and the other nine were arrested in Kota Kinabalu earlier today after raising questions into a RM10,000 funding of a pro-government UMS student candidate in its campus election, allegedly by Umno Youth.

However, he was uncertain as to which law he had violated.

“They just said they would take our statement on our talk this morning without telling us which law they’re investigating us under,” he said when contacted over the phone.

Fahmi, who is UM student council president, also alleged that UMS was attempting another “blackout” against his 8pm talk at its campus today, similar to the power supply disruption that had taken place at his university on October 27, the night Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was scheduled to speak.

“This act makes it seem like the university is afraid of its own shadow; in fact, it proves even more that the university is merely a puppet of a political party,” Fahmi said in a statement earlier today.

A notice posted on the UMS website alerted its student and faculty that power supply throughout campus would be disrupted from 9pm until 8am tomorrow for maintenance works.

Fahmi said his planned talk at UMS was part of a nationwide “Student Reformation” tour to raise awareness on academic freedom and university autonomy. He urged the undergraduates to attend.

“Come on, young people. Rise up and save the institutions of knowledge,” he said.

UM, Malaysia’s oldest public university, has postponed disciplinary proceedings against Fahmi and seven other students – collectively known as the “UM8” – over the October 27 talk where Anwar had entered campus grounds and addressed a massive crowd of students.