The brutal invasion of our sense of dignity

The introduction of LED wreaths, introduced in 2019 into Singapore, is a brutal invasion of our senses, but more importantly, these electronic gadgets brutalise our sense of dignity in death. 

Touted as being “reusable and eco-friendly”, it has reportedly gained popularity due to its alleged lower costs, a “grander appearance” and its “customisation potential”.

Singapore should reject such brutalisation of dignity in memory of our deceased loved ones.

LED wreaths and their excessive use are neither eco-friendly nor provide a grander appearance. Instead, they create light pollution that causes inconvenience to our immediate living environment and the health of the elderly and our children.

LED wreaths do not in any way honour our departed loved ones. The names of the deceased, often expressed in a ticker-tape format, ironically brutalise their names.

LED wreaths, which relies on the power supply from public housing blocks, may exert unnecessary pressure on our electrical supply, especially in public housing blocks. The use of generators to complement LED wreaths, ironically, adds further cost to bereaved families.

LED wreaths hinder sight as drivers attempt to navigate their way around neighbourhoods. They are no different from an invasive species, detrimental to the living and the dead.

LED wreaths is an ugly, excessive, ostentatious, capitalistic gimmick by individuals who professed themselves to be providing professional bereavement services.

LED wreaths brutalise funerals in Singapore. Period. It should be drastically reduced and, in fact, regulated.

Are the funeral directors in Singapore so fundamentally uncouth that any “innovative idea” from a foreign culture is appropriated and imported into Singapore and made a part of our local funeral traditions and heritage?

The very same people, who professed to serve bereaved families with dignity, are the very culprits who are brutalising Singapore’s unique funeral traditions.

This is merely a ruse to increase the revenue of funeral directors and their suppliers. It is a fundamentally selfish act that sells “grandeur”, “cost-effectiveness”, “eco-friendliness”, “dignity” to bereaved families.

We do, however, recognise the logic of the market, where demand meets supply. But whether the demand is artificially imposed on bereaved families, we are none the wiser.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) should limit the number of LED wreaths used at a funeral, and they should not occupy more than a prescribed space measured in square metres, depending on the size and location of the funeral.

At the same time, to compare fresh flowers with LED wreaths is a misnomer, to begin with. Flowers have intrinsic meanings, LED wreaths do not. Plainly speaking, they are simply electronic items that increase bereaved families’ funeral expenditures.

More fundamentally, our illiteracy in dignity has left us thinking that cold and impersonal LED wreaths can best express our love and longing for our departed loved ones.

This lack of understanding of what constitutes dignity should, in fact, call for more introspection not more ostentatious and artificial display of grandeur – when were inflatables and excessive blue lights considered as grandeur and by extension, seen as luxurious and fitting to celebrate the life and memories of our loved ones?

With all due respect, LED wreaths are increasingly becoming a nuisance to our sensibilities and our environments. There should be a call to ban them.

Singapore should reject such brutalisation of the grieving process in memory of our deceased loved ones.

If a LED wreath is the most creative product that funeral directors can recommend to bereaved families, Singapore’s funeral industry is, unfortunately, and tragically, not equipped to provide bereavement services to our people. 

The introduction of LED wreaths into our bereavement environs has created a tragic situation where the future of the funeral industry in Singapore, instead of being brighter, is now far more dingy and dim.

Oh, the ironies.

For the future of death and funerals in Singapore, resting on LED laurels (wreaths) just simply will not do.