The installation of Oracle Java SE (JDK) on some Linux distribution is still a fight. Probably the most staright forward way on Cent OS is downloading and installing the most current self-exctracting archive (.bin) and installing it to /opt.
Finally, ensure the Oracle Java SE binary ist called instead of the GNU ones.
#alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/jdk1.6.025/bin/java
#alternatives --config java
There are 2 programs which provide 'java'.
Selection Command
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*+ 1 /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2-gcj/bin/java
2 /opt/jdk1.6.025/bin/java
Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number: 2