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Booking venue, parking space for funeral wake to be available via My Legacy portal

2024-03-01 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE – Grieving family members will soon be able to book a venue to hold a funeral wake, as well as Housing Board parking space for the wake, via the MyLegacy@LifeSG portal.

These are among several enhancements being made to the four-year-old portal over the coming year, said the Smart Nation Group and the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) on March 1.

Greater digitalisation is improving government services, with satisfaction with such services increasing from 73 per cent in 2014 – when the Smart Nation initiative was launched – to 83 per cent in 2023, said Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary on March 1.

Meanwhile, business satisfaction with government services rose from 79 per cent in 2022 to 83 per cent in 2023, he added.

My Legacy, which is accessible via the LifeSG app, was launched in 2020 by the Ministry of Health, the Public Service Division and the then Smart Nation and Digital Government Group.

Among its features are a combined application form for both lasting power of attorney and advance care planning, streamlining the process for those who want to apply for both.

The portal also offers a vault function that enables the secure storage and retrieval of personal information, which can then be accessed by trusted people in instances such as when a person dies or becomes mentally incapacitated.

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Speaking during the debate on his ministry’s budget, Dr Janil cited the portal as an example of the strides made in offering citizens “better and more integrated government services”.

My Legacy acts as a “convenient one-stop portal” for reliable information and digital services related to end-of-life planning and post-death matters, he said.

“Navigating such matters can be difficult – it is difficult even for those of us who have thought ahead – and we know every bit of support helps,” said Dr Janil, who is also Senior Minister of State for Health.

In a media statement, the Smart Nation Group and GovTech said the enhancements being made to My Legacy will help people in end-of-life planning and managing post-death matters for their loved ones, allowing them to focus on other matters while grieving.

The platform has had 720,000 unique visitors since it was introduced, the two said.

They added that an average of 2,300 digital death certificates are downloaded from My Legacy every month, with a customer satisfaction score of 4.65 out of 5.

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Among My Legacy’s users is Mr Christopher Hamzah, who signed up for the service in 2021 after seeing how a friend faced challenges in settling his late father’s affairs.

The 38-year-old regional tax manager said he appreciated the ease of use and data privacy afforded by My Legacy, adding that the fact that the platform is a government initiative reassured him of its security.

“All the information I upload is private and confidential, I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands,” he said, noting he had previously stored personal information, such as bank details, on paper in a physical safe.

Mr Christopher Hamzah, pictured here with his wife and their daughter, signed up for My Legacy after seeing how a friend faced challenges in settling his late father’s affairs. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER HAMZAH

One improvement Mr Hamzah hopes to see in the future is the ability to more easily import information such as bank account details, which currently have to be keyed in manually.

Dr Janil noted that the reach of digital government services is increasing, with ScamShield – a mobile app which blocks scam calls and SMSes – having been downloaded more than 850,000 times since its launch in 2020.

Meanwhile RedeemSG, which lets residents claim and spend government-issued digital vouchers, has allowed households to claim more than $1 billion in digital vouchers since 2020.