. This happened after the employee mistook the body of 82-year-old Kee Kin Tiong for the dead relative of another client when collecting it from the embalming room of Centurythe agen Products Company, a funeral parlour.
Working with undertakers are independent funeral directors — event coordinators who see to funeral arrangements. Some operate as one-man firms that assemble different providers, such as tent and mobile-toilet firms. The agency licenses these spaces to uphold environmental hygiene standards, with parlours required to abide by sanitary rules for fittings, furniture and apparatuses.
Most of AFD’s members are family-owned and family-managed businesses, and the association said the new generation of funeral directors are proactive in taking their business further. Away from family-owned businesses, younger professionals — including those with some years of experience in the sector — are also starting their own firms.Mr Zhuo Weijie, 32, set foot in the industry about five years ago as an odd-job undertaker for various funeral firms.
“We allow people who are very entrepreneurial and like the profession to join the industry,” said Mr Ang, whose group runs two licensed parlours — Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors and Flying Home. Mr Zhuo of New Century Funeral Services said that as more young people helm funeral businesses, those joining the industry have more opportunities to learn from a younger group of industry leaders.
Agreeing, Mr Ang said that sentiments towards the trade — once viewed as an “outcast job” — had changed radically. Employees at Direct Funeral Services are put through training that spans the “A to Z of funeral work” from embalming to logistics and operations, said Mr Tay. Colleges in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, among others, offer programmes that lead to degrees, diplomas or certificates in mortuary science and funeral service.
Apart from the absence of a training programme for funeral workers, Mr Chen said Singapore lacks a nationally recognised code of conduct for the profession. Right now, licensed funeral parlours are located at six sites — mainly at Geylang Bahru, Sin Ming Drive and Toa Payoh Industrial Park, with others in Tampines Link, Lavender Street and Upper Serangoon Road.
Among the five new locations, the site in Woodlands will be the first to be launched for development around the middle of this year. Mr Calvin Tang, 44, assistant general manager of the Singapore Casket, said that the bigger market players in AFD could share resources to train committed professionals who join the industry.
In 2014, Taiwan began issuing funeral director licences as part of the government’s efforts to protect consumers and raise the quality of funerary services. At that time, 16 colleges and universities offered related courses, news site Taiwan Today reported.Mr Zhuo said that elements of the vocation, such as customs and religious practices, cannot be learnt from books. “It would be better with on-the-ground training,” he said.
NEA said it has also received feedback that while there is no shortage of embalmers in Singapore, few among them are locals owing to the lack of training opportunities. In devising a course, the association said the challenges include agreeing on the syllabi that all funeral professionals must undergo to achieve certification and the availability of qualified teachers.
He suggested that those wishing to start a funeral firm must first have an office, a full-time embalmer, an embalming theatre and a certain number of full-time employees.MORE REGULATIONS ‘MAY LEAD TO HIGHER COSTS’“But the trade-off of potentially higher costs, which will eventually be passed on to the families, will have to be carefully assessed,” the agency said.
As far as statistics on complaints go, consumers do not appear hugely dissatisfied with funeral services. The complaints were about overcharging, sales tactics and misleading claims, said its executive director Loy York Jiun.