More people in Singapore are now open to the discussion of their own death, helped along by the evolving image of funerals.
Still, there is scope for even more conversations about what happens in the lead-up to a loved one's final moments and after their death, one expert noted.around 24,000 in 2021 to 40,000 in 2040,
"When I was young, pre-planning was quite common in my grandfather's time," said the managing director of Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors. Where cemeteries were commonly found in the past, modernisation and urban planning began pushing cemeteries to rural areas such as Lim Chu Kang and Mandai, separating death from the living, he added.NTU’s Dr Ho, who runs an undergraduate psychology module called The Last Dance: Psycho-Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Death, Dying and Bereavement to educate students about the topic, described the attitudes towards death here as a “paradox”.
These attitudes hark back to religious and philosophical teachings about karma and reincarnation, which tell of how your actions affect your afterlife.In traditional Chinese practices, funeral rites are not only ways to respect the dead, but are seen as social acts where a deceased person’s power and status are symbolically transferred to his descendants, said Dr Ho.
Speaking in his capacity as Singapore Funeral Services founder and funeral director, Mr Hoo, who's been part of the industry since 2000, said funeral businesses have come a long way. For example, at Taoist funerals, family members used to wear traditional funeral garb made of jute – a material similar to a sack – and pin a small piece of coloured cloth to their sleeves to signify mourning. Now, mourners prefer to wear a simple white top with a black bottom.
“They realised it was actually more meaningful. But back then in 2010, people were still trying to accept this idea.” The concept was to have the family show their gratitude and give thanks in carrying out a final act of service, Ms Angjolie said. Passion Bereavement Care only handles funerals for Christians and freethinkers. Religion has guided Ms Kang’s outlook on death and her approach to funerals.
How a wake by funeral director Passion Bereavement Care looked like before its founder Deborah Kang elevated its image. “When someone passes on it is solemn, it's a sad situation, but we can also think of it as a life graduation. Similarly, Singapore Funeral Services, which rarely had requests for pre-planning a decade ago, now sees between 10 and 20 interested clients in a month.Numbers have now tripled in part due to The Life Legacy, a professional estate planning arm under The Life Celebrant which Ms Angjolie started in 2016. As part of the service, The Life Legacy helps customers draw up legal documents such as wills and includes funeral pre-planning as part of the package.
A female client who pre-planned her funeral with Passion Bereavement Care has her personal belongings, including her first and second choice of clothing, a set of undergarments, a necklace and bracelet, and an envelope containing documents, in a box to be used at her wake.
“So there will be a switch. I no longer will be the clinician. I could be the patient at any point in time.” Clients have told undertakers that planning their own funerals helps avoid conflict or second guessing among surviving family members. “But if I can have some control, if I can make some decision, if I can plan something, those actions actually help people feel a lot more dignified. It enhances the quality of life and it helps them to even uphold hope in the face of death.”One of the more recent Christian funerals, held in 2023, by Serenity Casket & Funerals.
With the number of deaths projected to increase, Dr Ho thinks that more regulation and a national agenda and policy on grief and bereavement will be needed.“What about people who passed on? What about the bereaved family? If you think about dying or mortality as such a big issue, there's about 20,000 to 23,000 people who die in Singapore every single year, right? That's a substantial number.
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