The Weight of Our Sky

In the car with Jay, Vincent encourages everyone to sing until he tells Jay to stop the car. They find bodies in a nearby river, and Vincent and Jay remove them while Mel goes back to the car, tapping and counting along the way. They go to Kampung Baru, where Mel lives, and they see how the neighborhood is destroyed. Vincent notes how Batu Street was already divided with Malay families and gangs on one side and Chinese families and the triads on the other. Mel finds her home in ruins, and her mother is not there. Her neighbor, Mak Sati, finds her and scolds her for failing to come home after school, telling her that she made a full fried fish for dinner that night. Mak Sati says Mel’s mother came home during the riots, but she had to go back to the hospital to work.

Mel and Mak Sati are interrupted by Pakcik Adnan, Saf’s father, who asks where Saf is. Mel explains what happened at the Rex and starts crying, and Pakcik Adnan cries. Pakcik Adnan criticizes Mel for leaving Saf, saying Saf should have survived. Mel tries to disagree, but Pakcik Adnan spits at her feet and walks away.