Jakarta. Controversial Indonesian Idol judge and rock star Ahmad Dhani has been put forward by the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party to become mayor of Surabaya.

Gerindra announced the decision on Friday, saying Dhani was intelligent and would be capable leader.

"Ahmad Dhani's name was proposed by youth groups in the party and we really appreciate that," said B.F. Sutadi, Gerindra's Surabaya branch chairman.

Ahmad hit international headlines for all the wrong reasons last year, when he donned a military outfit similar to that of SS officer Heinrich Himmler for a Nazi-themed election advertisement for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who heads Gerindra.

The campaign advertisement features Dhani and three Indonesian Idol contestants — Husein, Nowela and Virzha — covering Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” with the lyrics “who will awaken Indonesia from its misery if not us? Prabowo-Hatta!”

In the video, Dhani’s jacket is nearly identical to that worn by Himmler, a chief architect of the Holocaust.

Hatta Rajasa, a former coordinating minister for the economy, was Prabowo's running mate.

The rock star also made headlines after his then-13-year-old son lost control of a sports car and crashed into a minivan on the Jagorawi toll road in the early hours of Sept. 8, 2013 — killing seven — and it turned out the child had been given the vehicle by his father for his birthday.

The boy was acquitted and Dhani was never charged.

In Surabaya, Dhani will most likely line up against actress and model Arzetti Bilbina in the election contest later this year, after the National Awakening Party (PKB) said it planned to nominate her.