Rickshaw Driver Becomes an Instant Billionaire, Winning Rp 50 Billion Overnight

The 72-year-old man, identified as Sayat, had laboured as a rickshaw driver for years in Magelang, Central Java. He allocated his modest income from pulling the rickshaw to cover daily needs, pay his house rent, and purchase lottery tickets. The tickets were for the Sumbangan Dermawan Sosial Berhadiah (SDSB), a scheme initiated on 1 January 1989, which sold tickets for as little as Rp 1,000. The government channelled the proceeds from the draws into development funds, while participants could win prizes worth billions of rupiah based on the ticket draws. Sayat was one among many hoping to break the cycle of poverty. His miracle materialised on 9 May 1990, when his draw number was announced as the winner. The local press reported the elderly man was stunned as the final digit of his number was read out during the radio broadcast. Upon matching all the numbers, he won Rp 1 billion. The following day, he went out of his bamboo-walled house to prostrate and kiss his homeland, then reported his win. The news caused a sensation across Magelang as the rickshaw driver became a billionaire. At that time, Rp 1 billion was an exorbitant sum; for context, a house in the Pondok Indah area of Jakarta cost around Rp 80 million. Savvy about investment, Sayat deposited half of the money given to him in Jakarta by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Sudomo, into savings, and used the rest to buy land and fund his children’s enterprises. He never participated in the SDSB again, instead focusing on worship, building a mosque, and caring for his grandchildren until his passing. The SDSB scheme was ultimately terminated by the government in 1993.