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nlike normal ATMs, the one in Bintaro Jaya Grand Mosque in South Tangerang, Banten, does not dispense money, but rice for the poor living around the mosque.

The automatic rice dispenser, dubbed ATM Beras (rice ATM), stands near the entrance to the mosque with a donation box for the maintenance of the machine as well as rice donations placed nearby.

A member of the mosque’s management, Usman Shofi, said the machine was one of the mosque’s ways to care for the poor in the area.

“The machine will help the mosque’s congregation be muzakki [donors], while efficiently making donations to the mustahik [recipients],” Usman told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

“With the machine, we can also prevent long lines if we want to give out free rice for the poor as well,” he added.

Usman said after seeing that such machines had been installed in other cities such as Bandung in West Java and Surabaya and Trenggalek in East Java, the mosque’s zakat (alms) team and the management had the idea to set up a similar machine.

“We had this idea before the fasting month of Ramadhan, and now we have realized the program and begun operating the machine,” he said.

He said the machine was donated by some members of the congregation who are alumni of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

One of the donors is Budi Adji AG, who developed the machine.

Budi said the idea behind the machine was to help the poor to gain access to free rice at an automated machine according to their needs.

“I hope the machine will also help us develop our social awareness,” Budi told the Post.

The machine can hold up to 200 liters of rice, and each recipient will be given a card to access the machine.

Each card tap at the machine will give the recipient 2 liters of rice.

Usman said the mosque youth organization, assisted by a team from philanthropic organization Dompet Dhuafa, had organized for 100 families living near the mosque to receive the card to access the rice machine.

According to Dompet Dhuafa spokesman Bani Kiswanto, they only trained the mosque’s teams to identify potential recipients.

“We selected the recipients carefully to make sure they were the correct recipients,” Usman said.

He said the team assessed the needs of each family to allocate a daily quota of free rice that they would be able to get from the machine.

Cardholders’ data was entered into the mosque’s online database, which was connected to the rice machine, he added.

“For example, if a recipient family comprises only two or three people, they would get just one card tap per day, or equal to 2 liters of rice. If the recipient has more family members to support, then we will give them two or more taps of the card,” he said.

Usman said currently the machine could only be accessed from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. after the morning prayer and a religious lecture at the mosque.

“We want to encourage the recipients to educate themselves about religion. We help their spirituality by encouraging them to pray at the mosque, and we help their physicality by giving them free rice,” he said.

He went on to say the mosque would expand the machine’s operational hours in the future and ensure that the machine would continue to operate after the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Usman said the machine was currently the only one of its kind in South Tangerang and the greater Jakarta area. (ami)