Erwida Maulia, Cikeas, West Java – In an attempt to contain the damage to his ties with the Golkar Party, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has reprimanded an executive from his Democratic Party for issuing a statement reportedly offending the party of Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The President said he respected Golkar as a "senior party" and that the Democratic Party would always regard it as "a best friend and a brother".

Yudhoyono said he was "shocked" at the statement made by Democratic Party deputy chairman Ahmad Mubarok to reporters during the party's two-day national meeting, which concluded Monday.

Mubarok reportedly said Golkar, currently the biggest faction at the House of Representatives, would see its vote drop drastically to a mere 2.5 percent of the total in the upcoming legislative elections.

Angered by the offensive, Kalla, who is in The Hague, said the Democratic Party should not disrespect Golkar. Yudhoyono, the Democratic Party's chief patron, expressed regret over the incident.

"[Ahmad's] statement was unexpected; I'm shocked to find out what the statement is about. I don't want Democratic Party members to speak as they like. This sort of thing should never happen again," Yudhoyono said Tuesday at a press conference at his residence in Cikeas, West Java.

"The Democratic Party is still very young; we're less than 8 years old. I respect Golkar as a senior party that has been growing since the New Order era. It is impossible that we as a young party intend to disrespect Golkar."

Yudhoyono said he hoped the two parties could continue their "good relationship" and maintain the coalition they had formed both at the House and in the central government administration.

"With this explanation, I hope the relationship between myself and Jusuf Kalla in our capacities as President and Vice President will run smoothly until the end of our term of office on Nov. 20 this year," Yudhoyono said. "People expect us to stay solid."

But the coalition is not that firm, as evident when Golkar politicians criticized the Democrat Party for taking credit in its electoral campaigns for national development achievements.

Yudhoyono said a public reprimand was already a harsh sanction for a prominent party member such as Ahmad. But he said he believed Ahmad had no intention of disrespecting Golkar, saying his statement might just have been a slip of the tongue.

Yudhoyono insisted his party would not announce its vice presidential candidate until after the April 9 legislative elections. "We'll keep our stance; we will not discuss those matters [vice presidential candidates and party coalitions]. We will first focus on the legislative elections," he said.