Ezra Sihite – Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie has denied talk of rift within the party after some senior politicians publicly questioned his presidential candidacy.

Aburizal said that while he would wait for Golkar's national leadership meeting in June to make his candidacy official, he was currently the party's only candidate.

"There are no more rifts inside the party right now," he said in Depok, West Java, on Friday after delivering a lecture at the city's Cakra Buana School. Aburizal did acknowledge, however, that there was a difference of opinion among some party officials.

Commenting on Akbar Tanjung, the party's chief of patrons who was once considered an ally of Aburizal but has recently spoken out against him, Aburizal said both of them had contributed to the party. "So it's over. No more division among members," he reiterated.

Aburizal and Akbar met on Tuesday after the latter voiced his objection to the party's rush to nominate Aburizal. Members of the party and outsiders have suggested that Akbar's words were a sign of a rift among Golkar members.

Tuesday's meeting failed to persuade Akbar to support Aburizal. Akbar insisted that other party members be given the opportunity to challenge the party leader. He also warned that the business tycoon's early candidacy could hurt the party's performance in the 2014 legislative elections.

"The board of patrons cannot interfere if the central board says its decision is already final," Akbar said after the meeting. "We have given our recommendation. Hopefully, there is not much resistance [from members]."

Aburizal also played down the suggestion that Jusuf Kalla, the former vice president and a Golkar stalwart, would be nominated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party. He said that Kalla's strong reputation among the other parties was a positive thing. "It means we have many high quality members," he said.

Last week, senior Democratic politician Ahamd Mubarok mentioned Kalla as a possible presidential candidate for the party as Yudhoyono could not run again because of a constitutional term limit.

Separately, senior Golkar official Ade Komarudin reiterated the position of the party's central board that its decision on Aburizal's candidacy was final.

However, Zainal Bintang, another senior politician within the party, said that if Aburizal failed to win the presidency, then all officials on the central board should quit their posts.

Zainal, who is known to be an ally of Kalla, acknowledged that it was difficult to block the central board's move to name Aburizal as the sole candidate. He also said that Golkar should learn from its mistakes because divisions within the party had led to setbacks in the two previous elections.

In 2004, Kalla challenged Golkar's official candidate, Wiranto, a retired Army general, by running with Yudhoyono. That split the party and contributed to Wiranto's loss in the election.

Five years later, Kalla offered himself as the party's sole candidate. Several party members, led by Akbar, opposed the move. Kalla won the nomination, but went on to lose the election. Aburizal served as a minister early in Yudhoyono's time in office.

[Additional reporting from Antara.]