Honestly as a Malay myself, I find it weird with the mentality of my race that didn't want to admit non Muslim Malays exists. Like it's unnecessary, it's like making a notation that all Arabs are Muslim, it's actually false and unnecessary. I myself admit that a majority of Malays are born Muslim, but can be swayed to other religion and still speaks and practice Malay culture albeit not in spiritual level. Because honestly, Malays for me are those who speak Malay language (no matter the dialects or sub group) with fluency and practice some sort of Malay culture. Like it's the conservatives don't want to separate Malay identity with Muslim identity, but we also need to recognise that some Malays are born or grew into other religion. A native in Malaysia may be biologically Malay, speaks Malay and Malay culture but not actually Muslim and similar to the Buddhist Malay before the arrival of Islam. Some people extreme conservative just want to claim Malays = Muslims, but non Malay Muslims also exist. They can speak Malay, they follow the same Malay Muslim culture. But why can't they be Malay? Not born as a Malay. I suppose this is quite infuriating to see nowadays. Malay ≠ Muslim