Perth in preparation

"Australia has never had this opportunity,” stated Firoz Pestonji, eager to host the next World Zoroastrian Congress (WZC) in Perth in the last week of December, 2018 with the support of Zoroastrians in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Gold Coast. "We have to submit a proposal to the Global Working Group (GWG) by end October 2015, then again give a presentation at the GWG meeting in December 2015 in Udvada,” he added.
When Singapore announced its inability to host the XI WZC, feedback from across the world indicated that one of the associations in the US or Bombay with the support of Dr Cyrus Poonawalla who had sponsored the X WZC could fill in the lacuna. But at the GWG in Dubai in December 2014, when Pestonji had bid for the XII WZC to be held in in Australia, Rohinton Rivetna had asked him whether Australia would be able to manage the XI WZC should Singapore opt out. Ever since Pestonji has been working on the logistics with his core team.
Whilst Sydney has the maximum number of Zoroastrians in Australia, Pestonji, the founder president of the Business Association of West Australian Zoroastrians (BAWAZ) was more confident of being able to summon the infrastructure at his command in Perth where he runs Aussie Perth Tours. He further mentioned during a short visit to Bombay in September 2015, "We have a very good team of professionals. It is better to have a team of five dedicated workers than 50 working half-heartedly.” Since Perth lies on the west coast of Australia it also means travel time is less for those coming from India.
"The main aim of organizing a congress in Australia is to create awareness of Zoroastrians in Australia,” stated Pestonji. Australia being "a new product, virgin territory,” he expects this destination to attract more participation although "we are rookies in this game.” He also shares his dream of the congress becoming "a profit making machinery” to help Perth build its own community hall and dar-e-meher.

The Australia Congress in Perth should be a "fun congress, paisa vasool (worth the expenditure) for the participants.” Realizing that there is very poor attendance at the post lunch sessions, he would like to restrict it to one session and use the time for different tours like wildlife, cruise, beaches, vineyard. He is keen to promote "lots of interaction” during and after sessions to ensure that the locals get adequate international exposure in fields as varied as medicine, information technology, business.
Zoroastrian associations in the Far East "want to form a body like FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America)” once they formulate the ground rules, reports Pestonji. He is happy that Australia has been assured support by the Zoroastrian associations of Singapore and Hong Kong. New Zealand has yet to be approached.
In the meanwhile, the decision of the Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Singapore (PZAS) not to host the XI WZC in December 2017 still rankles with some. A letter purporting to be from a Zarine Mistry with the address restricted to one word, Vietnam but post marked Singapore, claims she was present at the extraordinary general meeting (EOGM) this July where members voted against hosting the global meet. She alleges that a two-thirds majority was not required to hold the Congress and only 50% would have sufficed. According to her 24 voted in favor of hosting the Congress and 17 against. She claims to have families and friends in South East Asia and elsewhere who were keen to attend the Congress and cruise but ended up "very disappointed.”
Parsiana sent a copy of the letter to both PZAS president Rustom Ghadiali and committee member Homiyar Vasania. On behalf of the PZAS committee Vasania replied on September 11, "The Association had a precedence whereby a major decision was taken with a two-third majority.
"This was the case when the community decided whether they should take the responsibility of adopting and taking up the responsibility of the Zoroastrian House. This was a valuable point which was insisted upon by our elders at that time. And we felt that taking up the responsibility of the WZC was a very major decision. Also, this decision for a two-third majority was taken and minuted in the committee meeting which was held prior to the EOGM. Hence this decision for a two-third majority.”
He also notes that no one in Singapore has heard of the alleged letter writer though some committee members "did receive unsigned letters from someone voicing their unhappiness with the outcome of the EOGM.” But as the letter was unsigned the PZAS decided to ignore the communication. As per their records, there is no current or past member of PZAS with the name Zarine Mistry.
"We have always tried to be as transparent as possible during this process and have always believed that whatever is said should be said openly and in public,” stated Vasania.