Procel’s vision for Asia Pacific
Maccabi Australia president Harry Procel says that Maccabi Australia Incorporated sees itself as the leader in the Asia-Pacific and aims to continue to build a “Maccabi family” in the region.
Harry Procel
Speaking to Maccabi News at the ECAJ conference, Procel said that MAI knows one of its major projects is its responsibility to play “mentor” to other Jewish communities in the region.
“We’ve started a development of what I call Maccabi Asia-Pacific,” Procel said. “We’ve had New Zealand involved, now we’ve had Hong Kong for the last two years. As an offshoot, Hong Kong and Singapore had a weekend together where Singapore went to Hong Kong looking to continue to develop contact.
“We are the largest community in the Asia Pacific by a long way, and we will work with New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, possibly India. It is part of our vision going forward.”
When asked if MAI needed to mentor these other communal organisations, Procel said: “We are regarded by the Maccabi World Union as part of Asia Pacific and they see us as having the ability, from experience to infrastructure, to drive that vision.”
MAI’s focus at the moment is on the Maccabi Australia Games in December. Procel anticipates a “fabulous” event, but acknowledged planning has had its difficulties.
“It’s been a challenge this time,” he reflected. “We were unlucky this time. Normally the dollar is an issue for us going overseas; this time in reverse.
“And having it in summer has been a challenge; it’s more expensive for athletes coming.
“That said, it’s going to be a fabulous event, but we’re going to have to do a major debrief to review the process going forward.”
