Set up commission to explore new funeral laws for Singapore

The funeral profession plays a critical public role.

It is important that as a society, we begin to view the funeral profession as an essential public service, a recognition sorely absent in Singapore’s statutes today.

A legislative redefinition under the statutes is the first step to reshaping mentalities towards death and funerals. It will also form the basis for a piece of legislation that will govern the profession better, leading to greater accountability and transparency, and lifting the standards of the industry.

A law commission should be set up to establish the first principles for a Funeral Act in Singapore. This commission should:

• Determine the principles, policies, objectives and public interest questions that ought to shape the legislation regulating dying, death and the funeral profession in Singapore.

• Consider whether the present system of self-regulation of funeral directors should continue or whether an alternative system should be instituted.

• Identify existing public health provisions and recommend the most appropriate legal vehicle to replace the Environmental Public Health Act. At present, this Act governs only the licensing of funeral parlours and cemeteries, and how these sites are to be set up. It lacks a legislative framework that includes education, service and embalming standards. A comprehensive legislative framework should also protect bereaved families, especially in their communication and transactions with funeral companies.

These steps, if taken by the commission, will set forth a legal framework for the introduction of a law that will consolidate existing provisions, introduce new ones and initiate public consultations for a Funeral Act. 

Singapore can learn from New Zealand, which started a commission in 2010 to review burial and cremation laws. Its parliament later debated and accepted the law commission’s report titled “Death, burial and cremation: A new law for contemporary New Zealand”.

There were recommendations across four areas, namely the certification of death, end-of-life decisions, quality of funeral directors, and the process of burial and cremation.

The Singapore Government should also consider introducing for the funeral sector a fund similar to the Maritime Cluster Fund, which supports the growth of maritime activities.

This will enable the growth of the funeral industry by co-funding the costs borne by funeral companies from developing their workers and putting them through training and certification.

These moves will go a long way towards uplifting the human resources of the industry.

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