KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 13 -- For more than a decade, Suzanah Ismail had been quietly putting money aside for one overriding reason: to give her son greater financial security in the years ahead.

The amounts were not always large. She saved according to what she could afford, steadily building a financial cushion in the name of Muhammad Yaa'sin Muhamad Pilus, her 24-year-old son who has mild Down syndrome.

Then, in May, those years of saving produced an outcome she had never expected.

Muhammad Yaa'sin, who is from Trong, Perak, was named the winner of RM100,000 in Bank Simpanan Nasional's Sijil Simpanan Premium (BSN SSP) State Draw - Bonus Prize category.

For Suzanah, a 54-year-old pharmacy assistant under the Ministry of Health, the money...