Headlines – After offering free haj pilgrimage packages, motorcycles and Kijang vans to civil servants regularly attending afternoon mass prayers at the municipal mosque, Bengkulu Mayor Helmi Hasan is adding a hatchback car to the list of prizes for the devout.

The new prize, a Daihatsu Ayla, will be up for grabs for those members of the public who attend 52 evening prayers without a single absence at their neighborhood mosques.

On Thursday, Helmi delivered an Ayla (he claimed the car had been donated by a philanthropist he would not name) to the management of Ar-Rahman Mosque at Pagar Dewa village.

"Anyone who attends the maghrib and isya evening mass prayers 52 times at Ar-Rahman every Wednesday has the chance to win the Ayla," Helmi said as quoted by kompas.com.

Helmi entered the national spotlight when he made it mandatory for his staff to attend afternoon prayers at the municipal grand mosque on week days.

He is also planning a bylaw, which will make Friday prayers obligatory for local residents, as part of his bid to make the predominantly Muslim Bengkulu a "religious city".

The initiative became even more controversial after he made the religious obligation look like a contest by offering cars, motorcycles and free haj pilgrimage package as prizes to those who faithfully followed his call.

Helmi has turned a deaf ear to the Religious Affairs Ministry's call to drop the bylaw.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/08/mayor-offers-car-mosque-attendance.html