Camelia Pasandaran – A woman from Bojonegoro, East Java, whose toddler son suffered severe burns from a 3kg-gas cylinder explosion came to the State Palace to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and to ask for help financing her son's medical treatment.

Susi Hariyani, 29, came to the State Palace on Monday afternoon with her four-and-a-half-year old son, Rido Januar. Rido was terribly disfigured in a gas cylinder explosion on March 27.

Unfortunately for Susi, she was left broken-hearted when she was told that she could not meet with the president. Susi said she was desperate for help because her son needs plastic surgery, such was the extent of the damage to her son's face and torso.

"My son suffered burns to his face, arms and legs. I can only ask the government for help – I don't know where else to go," she said between sobs. "I've tried to enter the State Palace but they said I couldn't. Who will help me if my government and the President won't?"

Rido, whose face and arms are still covered in blistered burn scars, cried in her arms and begged his mother to leave. Susi has been staying with her younger sibling in Tangerang, waiting for the opportunity to get to see the president but has so far been unsuccessful.

Susi's husband works in Bandung, West Java and he is currently trying to obtain Public Health Insurance, or Jamkesmas. "My husband is in Bandung trying to process the Jamkesmas but it's not finished yet. We don't have the money to seek treatment without it," she said.

The explosion happened in a boarding house. "I didn't know there was any gas leakage. That morning I turned on the stove and then it exploded. I rent a room, it's small but I sleep there and cook there. My son was still sleeping when it happened," she said.

She said that the East Java government had helped with the initial treatment but her son still needed further follow-up plastic surgery. "I only want my son to recover, that's all any mother would want, and that's why I'm here," she said.