In the ongoing copyright saga of ‘Count on Me Singapore’, Joseph Mendoza who is accused of copying the Singapore national song, has decided to throw in the towel and retracted all claims to the lyrics and tune of the song (‘MCCY: Mendoza apologised for confusion caused by claim over NDP song‘).
In addition, Mendoza also apologised for the “confusion caused” and stated that he has no intention of attacking the integrity or professionalism of Mr Hugh Harrison, the original composer of ‘Count on Me Singapore’. The song was commissioned by the then Ministry of Culture in the mid-80s and is now owned by the Singapore government.
News of Mendoza’s retraction came from the Ministry of Community and Culture (MCCY) today (21 Mar). According to MCCY, Mendoza has changed from his earlier position. He has now confirmed that:
- He in fact does not have any evidence to substantiate his claim that he had written “We Can Achieve” in 1983, and he also does not lay any claim to the lyrics and tune of the Song.
- He accepts that the Government of Singapore holds the copyright to the music and lyrics of the Song.
- He has unconditionally and irrevocably withdrawn any claims of whatsoever nature, directly or indirectly, with regard to the lyrics and tune of “We Can Achieve”, which is similar to the Song.
- He has informed all of his associates and networks of the above, and instructed all social media platforms to remove “We Can Achieve”.
MCCY said it has accepted Mendoza’s apology and will treat the matter as closed.
Mendoza produces “video testimonies” from two former orphans earlier
Earlier, while Mendoza was maintaining that he was the original composer of the Indian version of ‘Count on Me Singapore’, he attributed the whole incident as “coincidental”. He concluded that the similarity of what he and Mr Harrison had composed might have been a “coincidence”.
He later even produced video testimonies of two former orphans from the Bal Bhavan Orphanage saying that they remember singing the Indian version of the song which Mendoza said he composed back in 1983, three years before the release of the Singapore’s version (‘Man in India produces video testimonies of 2 ex-orphans saying they sang his song in 1983‘).
Mendoza sent TODAY video testimonies from two different women last Thu (18 Mar), one who said that she was in the Bal Bhavan Orphanage from 1976 to 1989 and another who said that she was in the orphanage in 1983. Both said that they remember learning the song that he composed at the orphanage.
When asked by TODAY to provide physical evidence, he replied they were destroyed in a flood. He also said the hall where the performance of his song was held burnt down in 1990 and there is thus no record of it.
Now that Mendoza has told MCCY that he has unconditionally and irrevocably withdrawn all claims with regard to the lyrics and tune of Singapore’s national song and that he does not have any evidence to substantiate his claim of composing the song, that means the video testimonies of that 2 women in India must have been false.
It means the 2 women have participated in the deception together with Mendoza to hoodwink the Singapore public by sending their fake video testimonies to TODAY.
