Arientha Primanita – The image and name of Nachrowi Ramli may have been splashed across billboards around the capital and newspaper advertisements over the past few months, but Jakarta residents seem to know little about the retired general other than this.

"He's the chubby guy whose face is on billboards," said Angga Alius, a 28-year-old Jakartan, who weaves through the capital's legendary traffic every day on a motorcycle to get to his job in Mal Ambassador in South Jakarta.

The 60-year-old head of the Democratic Party's Jakarta chapter would probably hope this would change by August 2012, when Jakartans like Angga go to polling stations to vote for the next governor of Indonesia's capital.

On Wednesday, Nachrowi formally threw his hat into the ring and claimed he had secured the ruling party's support, though the Democrats had yet to announce their candidate.

Intelligence man

To those who have heard of him, one thing stands out – Nachrowi's 34-year career in the field of intelligence.

After graduating near the top of his class at the State Encryption Academy, he served as an intelligence officer for about a decade and, after a six-year stint at the Indonesian Embassy in Egypt, joined the State Encryption Institute (Lembaga Sandi Negara) in 1995.

There, he rose through the ranks until he became the head of the institute, known as Lemsaneg, in 2002.

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe at his home in Condet, East Jakarta, his face lit up when the discussion moved to the importance of codes and encryption – his specialty and the thing that earned him honors such as the Bintang Jasa Utama, Indonesia's highest civilian honor, from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former classmate, after he retired in 2008.

"We must learn to protect our family's codes from other people," Nachrowi said with a slight Betawi accent. "For example, if we don't have money our neighbors must not know, because they could take advantage of [this weakness]. That's similar to military duties. Information is power."

When asked if he had used his skills in intelligence to study his potential opponents in the gubernatorial race, he laughed. "Well, we can see how things are from whatever information is available," he said.

Opening up

Knowing the value of information, Nachrowi said he had made it a point to keep personal matters to himself. But now that he wants Jakartans to know him and trust him, the retired general, commonly referred to as Bang Nara, is starting to open up.

When he welcomed the Globe into his home, he was dressed comfortably in a batik shirt, dark pants and slippers.

He bought the 800-square-meter lot in the area known as Betawi Village back in the 1980s, he said. He lives in the house with his wife, Alfina Efi Maria, and their youngest daughter, Ditha Ria Karinda. Their three other daughters – Dinar Eka Finarli, Githa Dwi Hastuti and Metha Tri Nirbayam – are all married and living with their husbands.

The house is free of fancy trimmings and is decorated with family pictures and souvenirs from the many countries Nachrowi visited during his long career.

Despite the house's humble appearance, the garage sported a number of expensive cars: a red Nissan X-Trail, a white Lexus, a white Hummer and a black Jeep Wrangler.

The latter, he said, belonged to his daughter, while the Hummer was a birthday gift three years ago. "My daughters chipped in for the car. That is why the license plate is 1207, that is my birthday, July 12," he said.

As for the rest of the cars, he credited the several businesses he is and has been involved in. "As a Betawi native, my parents taught me to take advantage of every opportunity. The hard work should come first," he said.

Nachrowi said that he got started in business young, supplying eggs and kangkung to help his family, who survived on the money from his father's small printing business.

Today, his businesses include supplying electronic goods and office equipment. He also runs a real estate development company in Jakarta and Bekasi.

"I buy land, build houses and then sell it," he said, adding that the construction business started from a previous business he had supplying rock and sand. Besides that, he has a potato plantation in Bogor, with the crops being sold in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

But he has already left the day-to-day running of the businesses to his daughters, and only gets weekly reports now. Regeneration, he called it.

Leader of experts

Nachrowi's strong background in the military may not be the first thing voters are looking for in a governor.

Lies Prihatini, a South Jakarta resident who said she had not heard of Nachrowi, said whether a candidate had a civilian or military background did not matter to her – Jakarta has had both kinds of governors and none have performed well.

But Nachrowi believes his background means he has what it takes to win and lead. "It doesn't take an expert to lead Jakarta. It takes someone who has the courage to lead and coordinate the experts to manage Jakarta," he said.

The remarks might have been aimed at the current Jakarta governor, Fauzi Bowo, who during his campaign in 2007 used the slogan "Give it to the expert."

The long military and intelligence experience shows: Nachrowi has clearly started strategizing but refuses to go into detail. Again, for him information is power.

For instance, he said he already had programs lined up, but refused to provide details. He did say that his motto was TARIF, which stands for Transparency, Accountability, Responsiveness, Innovation and Fairness.

And then being a military man, he said he wanted a civilian to be his running mate. He has several names in mind, he said, but again refused to share the information.

"I need a hard worker and someone who is public-service oriented. My deputy must complement me and have one goal, which is to cooperate until the end of our term," he said.

Nachrowi said that even his many foreign assignments – to 70 countries in total – would benefit Jakarta, because he was well acquainted with what made different cities work.

He also said that he was "shopping for problems." "I go directly to the people to know what their problems are," he said. "So when I take the post, I don't need to learn anymore. I can start working right away."

Chances?

"I didn't spend a single rupiah for my billboards," Nachrowi said. He added that all his promotions were related to his current activities, such as being the head of the Betawi Consultative Body (Badan Musyawarah), where he supervises 114 Betawi organizations like the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) and the Betawi Communication Forum (Forkabi).

"All of those were support from my friends who have billboard businesses," he added.

And that's not all the support he is getting. Some of his friends from the Military Academy's class of 1973, which included President Yudhoyono, have declared their support for his bid. A political source told the Globe that Yudhoyono himself supported Nachrowi's bid to lead the party's Jakarta chapter.

Nachrowi joined the Democrats in 2008 after retiring from the military and was part of the so-called success team in 2009 that delivered 34 percent of the Jakarta vote to the ruling party.

From this achievement, he easily won the chairmanship of the party's Jakarta chapter in November 2010, with all six branches backing him. From there, according to Nachrowi, he received the mandate to run for governor in 2012.

Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst from Charta Politika, said the retired general should not be overconfident, because the Democratic Party brand is not as strong as it once was.

"The Democrats' power may be big in Jakarta, but it is not as strong as it used to be with the recent scandals involving Democrats," he said. "Plus, Jakarta voters are independent and critical, as well as apathetic toward political parties, so the 2012 Jakarta election will not be an easy race."

Yunarto also pointed out that Fauzi still had a clear edge over Nachrowi when it came to popularity. The analyst suggested that for Nachrowi to succeed, he must present himself as the antithesis of Fauzi.

Priya Ramadhani, the head of the Golkar Party's Jakarta chapter and the party's presumed candidate for governor, said he saw Nachrowi and other possible candidates as strong contenders. But everyone, he said, has the same chance as the election would depend on voters.

And what do voters want?

"I think Jakarta is best led by someone who has a real concern for the city, not only for power. Someone capable of real action, not only words, and that does not depend merely on a military or a civilian background," said Angga, as he headed out to face another day of traffic.