Anita Rachman & Arientha Primanita – Not so fast, a Golkar official said on Tuesday following reports party chairman Aburizal Bakrie would represent the party in the 2014 presidential elections.

Party chairman Fadel Muhammad said that while it was the right of party members to seek to nominate Aburizal for president, "Pak Ical [Aburizal] has yet to respond."

He was commenting on the statement made on Monday by Ketut Sudikerta, head of the party's Bali chapter, that all of the party's provincial branches had agreed to nominate Aburizal as the candidate.

But Fadel, who is also maritime affairs and fisheries minister, said the business tycoon would not rush into a decision. "He's always like that," he said. "When he goes to the regions and people say they support him for the presidential election, he doesn't give a response."

Fadel said that until he makes a statement on the matter as party chairman, nothing would be certain.

The minister said the party would hold a meeting next month with representatives from all regions. "We'll see what they think. But it seems Pak Ical doesn't want to comment yet," he said.

A number of party elites have been quoted as saying that Aburizal, the former coordinating minister for people's welfare, would be the best candidate for the presidential election, but that the party would base its decision on surveys of public opinion.

Golkar secretary general Idrus Marham said in June that the electability of Aburizal has been heading upward over the past year, and "we hope that over the next two years the trend will continue," he said.

Nurul Arifin, the Golkar deputy secretary general, said Aburizal would be an ideal candidate given the time, energy, and funds he has devoted to it. "But our chairman is a wise man, so he always says 'let's see the results of the survey,'?" she said.

Besides Aburizal, other possible Golkar candidates include Fadel himself, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Golkar's advisory board chairman Akbar Tandjung and the current coordinating minister for people's welfare, Agung Laksono.

Asked for his response on Tuesday, Kalla did not explicitly express support for Aburizal's candidacy but said that if the party wanted its chairman to run for president, "please go ahead."

[Additional reporting by Made Arya Kencana.]