Oracle states: "Now, despite supporting the technical direction, Apache have announced that they are quitting the Executive Committee," he [Adam Messinger, Oracle VP] continued."Oracle has a responsibility to move Java forward and to maintain the uniformity of the Java standard for the millions of Java developers and the majority of Executive Committee members agree. We encourage Apache to reconsider its position and remain a part of the process to move Java forward. ASF and many open source projects within it are an important part of the overall Java ecosystem."

In other words, Oracle will continue to be the gatekeeper to Java.