Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie claimed Tuesday that he was the most popular candidate for the next Golkar chairman. "I have the highest support," he said after giving a lecture at Bakrie University.

Aburizal added the rumors about him facing declining support from Golkar regional branches were unsubstantiated. Asked by reporters about who he considered his greatest rival in contesting the Golkar chairmanship, Aburizal answered shortly, "Myself".

Aburizal is a controversial figure. He came under fire after Lapindo Brantas, a company partly owned by his family business group, was blamed for causing the Sidoarjo mudflow tragedy.

According to Aburizal's spokesman, Lalu Mara Satriawangsa, a recent survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) concluded that 70 percent of the party's regional branches supported Aburizal, about 20 percent supported other candidates, while the remaining 10 percent were still undecided.

The other candidates include media magnate Surya Paloh and legislators Yuddy Chrisnandy and Ferry Mursyidan Baldan.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto reportedly has an interest in teaming up with Yuddy. Lalu said that Tommy had also met with Aburizal's campaign team, but they had not reached any agreement.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a senior researcher from the LSI, said that his institution had also surveyed regional branches about their preference for the new chairman. However, vivanews.com reported that he refused to confirm Lalu's statement.

Sugeng Suparwoto, the chairman of Surya Paloh's campaign team, said that Aburizal had the right to claim any degree of support. "Even if the survey results were correct, I still question the fairness of the survey methods," Sugeng said.

Sugeng said that bluffing support was a common practice in the world of politics. "That's a political way of communicating," he said.

Sugeng said that according to his team's data, 342 out of 477 regional Golkar branches would definitely support Surya Paloh. "My team even held a plenary meeting with branch representatives," he said.

Sugeng also added that he was not worried about the plans of Tommy and Yuddy to team up to win the chairmanship. "I am actually glad there are many candidates who care about the Golkar Party," he said.

Suggeng said that Soeharto's role as the founder and former leader of the Golkar Party also gave Tommy a "historical right" to be active in the party in the future. Head of Yuddy's campaign team, Zainal Bintang, said there had been no new developments regarding the collaboration between Tommy and Yuddy.

"Pak Yuddy will be back tomorrow from his haj pilgrimage. After that, there will be a meeting to follow up the plan," said Zainal.

Commenting on Aburizal's claim of having the highest levels of support, Zainal said that the truth would be unveiled at the party's national congress, scheduled to be held in Pekanbaru, Riau, in early October. (mrs)