I find the claim that non-Malay students are not being sent to national schools because of religion to be spurious.

If it were about religion, than non-Muslim parents would turn away from any school that taught religious studies. That is not the Malaysian experience.

I went to a Christian missionary school and every morning at assembly all the non-Muslim students said the Lord's Prayer and on Wednesdays it was the Hail Mary.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays school would start later because there were catechism classes. No one complained and in fact, many would have felt superior attending such a school.

There are maybe cases of over zealous Muslim school administrators but the real problem is more to do with Islamophobia than anything else.