KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Malaysian internet users have come to the defence of Natasha Qisty Mohd Ridzuan who is being criticised for wearing cosmetics during an interview about her straight-A results in the 2016 Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) examination.
The student from Kolej Tunku Kurshiah in Negri Sembilan was also denounced for purportedly speaking with a foreign accent as well as her attire during the interview with state news agency Bernama.
Most comments expressed either disapproval of her appearance or claimed that she will rely more on her beauty than her intelligence to succeed.
“I’m her batchmate, even in school, she’s always been pretty with and without makeup. Always supportive and helpful too. Zz smh at haters,” schoolmate Admalinda Hasan posted on her @admalindaa Twitter account.
Another Twitter user with the handle @kidzaid also rebuked Natasha’s critics for finding fault in her appearance rather than celebrating her academic results.
Ashrul Ashri said the apparent envy seen in the criticism against the top scorer was an indication of the country’s obstacles in its path to becoming a developed nation.
“This is why Malaysia finds it so hard to progress, so many uneducated people yet so powerful when it comes to bashing others,” he wrote.
The SPM results were announced last Thursday. In 2016, 434,535 candidates sat for the examination at 3,732 examination centres nationwide.
Of these, 8,646 students recorded straight A’s. The number of top scorers last year were lower, however, than the 9,721 in 2015.
Overall results were better than 2015, however, with the national average grade rising to 5.10 from 5.15.
