Rickie shelves launch of new ‘Bekikis Bulu Betis’ video until dad’s copyright claim issue resolved

KUCHING (May 7): Singer Rickie Andrewson has put off the launch of his new music video for ‘Bekikis Bulu Betis’ until issues surrounding his father Andrewson Ngalai Asom’s copyrights claim is resolved.

Rickie said he and the company that produced the video, Borneo MA Smart Vendors (BMAS) Holdings Sdn Bhd, were now in the midst of settling the issue after the company received a legal letter from his father.

He told reporters today that he had obtained his father’s permission to record the new video when the project was mooted and he believed that the issue may have cropped up because another company had produced a separate video and re-recorded the song.

“I had discussed this project with my father. He and I have no problems actually. He gave his consent,” he said.

“Maybe this is happening because there is another video and there was some miscommunication and so this could just be a coincidence because we actually planned to only launch our video today.”

Rickie reiterated that the new video would only be launched after the matter had been resolved.

“We will solve this matter with my father amicably and as soon as possible. So we are not launching the video or uploading it until this is solved with my father.”

BMAS was one of two companies named in a police report lodged by Andrewson last week for allegedly re-recording his song without his permission.

The other company, XIBO Entertainment, said on its YouTube channel yesterday that the problem could have resulted from ‘some misunderstanding’ and they hoped to also resolve the issue soon.

BMAS Group of Companies executive chairman Andenson Dato, who was also at the press conference today, confirmed that he had received the lawyer’s letter from Andrewson asking them to stop the launch of the new video.

“They thought we were selling CDs. Uploading a video on YouTube. I told them ‘no’. Today, we wanted to do the launching. We will hold off on uploading the video on YouTube and wait for further discussions with the other party.

“I told them we can’t cancel the event because we have planned this for a month, not just yesterday, and there are a lot of expenses,” he said.

Andenson said he had proposed the project to Rickie several months ago as the original video for ‘Bekikis Bulu Betis’ was released 24 years ago and he felt it was timely to bring it uptodate given its popularity not only in Sarawak or Malaysia but in other countries.

“I was moved to rebrand the video because this song is so popular. I was in Indonesia and I heard it being played. I was in Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur and I saw westerners singing it,” he said, adding that Rickie was also a product ambassador for his company.

Asked if there was any legal agreement with Andrewson to produce the video, Andenson said Rickie had informed his father verbally but there was no ‘black and white’.

Rickie’s new video was played for the audience before the press conference. It depicted multi-cultural performers and was shot at various locations in the state.