Death in Singapore
[3] Irreversible cessation of the blood circulation and respiration is determined according to ordinary standards of current medical practice,[4] while total and irreversible cessation of all brain functions is made in accordance with the following criteria:[5] In addition, the Interpretation Act sets out other safeguards for the determination of death: When the question of whether a person is alive or dead arises, and it is shown that he was alive within 30 years, the burden of proving that he or she is dead lies on the person who affirms it.
[22] Hanging, which is used for all executions and are carried out in Changi Prison on Fridays at dawn, are by the long drop method, which severs the spinal cord.
[30] At the CFM Mortuary, the family will view and identify the body of the deceased in the presence of a coroner, who reviews the case and determines if an autopsy is required.
[30] If the coroner decides that no autopsy is needed or if the cause of death is deemed to be natural and no foul play is suspected, the investigation officer will inform the family members to head down to collect the body.
On 1 November 1998, the NEA implemented a policy to limit the burial period of all graves to 15 years, due to a shortage of space in the cemeteries.
[37] From 2017 onwards, as part of the expansion plans for Tengah Air Base, the cemetery will be reduced in size from 318ha to 100ha with around 80,500 Chinese and Muslim graves being exhumed.
[39] The local authorities began to view these cemeteries as hazardous sources of disease-causing vectors such as mosquitoes,[40] as well as a form of land waste.
To encourage the population to adopt this relatively new way of treating the dead, the state employed the help of "funerary middlemen" who could erode the distrust of cremation because they were respected for their knowledge of death rites and disposal.
[43] In addition, the rallying cries of national development, the common good, and the country's future were used to encourage the populace to take up the idea of cremation and to abandon their insistence of traditional burial grounds.
[45] As an alternative means of managing the disposal of the dead, the state offered burial space at a state-owned public cemetery complex at Choa Chu Kang, although it made it clear that it considered cremation as the only viable long-term option.
[46] The earliest government crematorium, situated at Mount Vernon, began operations in 1962 with only one funeral service hall and about four cremations a week.
[47] The site includes a columbarium built in several phases, comprising niches arranged in numbered blocks which either feature Chinese-style green roofs, or housed within a nine-storey pagoda-style building.
Towards the end of the 1970s, the Mount Vernon complex, which was initially intended for the storage of ashes from recent deaths, could no longer cope with the scale of exhumation projects fuelling the demand for columbarium niches.
[50] After a body is cremated, the family of the deceased can store the ashes at home or in a columbarium, or scatter them in the sea or at a specially built garden.
[53][54] While still not a common choice, sea burial is slowly gaining popularity with people who do not wish to burden their family with paying their respects during festivals.
Private columbaria are operated by the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok, and the Singapore Soka Association, among others.
The later columbaria have more modern designs, with well-designed landscaped environments, and looking similar to contemporary HDB (Housing and Development Board) flats.
Comparisons have been drawn between the architecture of these columbaria and that of schools and condominiums,[59] and hypotheses have been made that such are deliberate efforts to eliminate the sense of fear and dread traditionally associated with landscapes of death.
