So this isn’t really hot news. Heck, I don’t even know if it’s good enough news to talk about, since I’m sure Monashians will stand on the same side of this divide, but all the same, this is for those of you who didn’t know this went down.

This is Natasha Qisty Mohd Ridzuan. She’s turning 18 this year, which means that her SPM results were released on March 16^th. For anyone unfamiliar with the Malaysian education system, the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) is a national government exam – Malaysia’s O-levels so to speak. The grading goes from A+, to A, A-, B+, B, and so on. This kid got 9A+.

People.

PEOPLE.

9A+, PEOPLE.

She was interviewed by local Bernama News Channel, and a video of this interview was released on Facebook. To the horror of many Malaysians, instead of being celebrated for her achievement, she was the target of cyber bullying.

‘But wait, what could she possibly be bullied for?’

Here are just a few of the many hateful comments on the video:

????????

If you are anything like me, you’d have facepalmed yourself into next week by now.

Comments like these and worse have been widely circulated by news outlets, coming in at such an alarming rate that Natasha shut down all her social media accounts.

These internet trolls had turned such a happy accomplishment into such an ugly display, forcing a 17 year old to shut down all her social media outlets. Now, I could pick apart every one of these hollow headed comments, and also talk about the many ways these peoples’ mindsets are the absolute shit of our society and why, presumably, they feel justified enough to have these opinions. But I have assignments to get to­ instead I will just say this:

Even if she was wearing bright blue foundation, it would not take away from the fact that this is a person who has put in all her effort to work for something, and achieve it. Claiming that her results won’t guarantee her a job just because yours didn’t is like saying, ‘Oh you bought a new car? But mine won’t start L’

ARE THESE EVEN RELATED?

No.

The whole point The ONLY point that you should take away from that interview is the fact that this girl is getting amazing results. That’s it. And for those of us who can appreciate good makeup, this girl is achieving all this while absolutely SLAYING her makeup looks. Picture for proof:

Some comments found on other news outlets also show girls bashing her saying that in ‘their time’, they only used basic powder on their face. It doesn’t matter what you did during ‘your time’. It really doesn’t. Because whether you were bare faced or cake faced has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting AWESOME results. This whole girls shaming other girls for how they want to dress themselves up (or down) is another whole situation I will not rant get in to now.

And finally, to those who commented about how they wouldn’t ever marry a girl so high maintenance, and that she didn’t look like wife material (yes, comments like these were popular) or that they prefer someone more ‘natural’. I don’t know how you looked at an SPM high achiever’s interview and thought, “Oooh, bride catalogue,”, but excuuuuuuseeeee meeeeeeeeeeeeee?? The likes of her doesn’t need you because she can maintain herself thank you very much. And do you really think someone like her would even LOOK at the likes of you? Man, check yo self.

Oops, did I just inadvertently pick apart their comments anyway? Sorry, not sorry, my high horse has been held up in its stable for too long.

But again, to bring it back to what Bernama’s interview was supposed to be about, congrats to Natasha, and everyone else who got their SPM results.

Article by Larissa Liau