Jusuf Kalla was born on 15 May 1942 in Watampone, the capital of the Bone Regency in South Sulawesi. His parents were Hadji Kalla, a local businessman and Athirah, a woman who sold Buginese silk for a living. He was the second of 10 children. After completing school, Kalla attended Hasanuddin University in Makassar.

Kalla has been often mentioned as a possible nominee of the Golkar Party in the 2014 presidential race. In 2009 Kalla ran in the Indonesian presidential election with former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Wiranto as his running mate, finishing third with 12.4% of the vote. During a dedication ceremony of the Indonesian Red Cross headquarters in the Riau province on 3 February 2012 Kalla stated his willingness to run in the presidential election in 2014 should he receive sufficient public support. By May 2012 however, Kalla stated that he had no intention of running in the 2014 Presidential election. Kalla said he had no hard feelings about party chairman Aburizal Bakrie's upcoming inauguration as presidential candidate for the Golkar Party and that he had no intention of competing with him despite surveys that showed that Kalla was likely to be more electable than Bakrie. During Golkar's National Leadership meeting in Bogor on 29 June 2012, Bakrie was officially declared the Golkar Party's 2014 Presidential candidate. Nevertheless, in the changeable political scene in Indonesia the situation can be expected to evolve in the preparations for the 2014 presidential election. In late 2012 Jusuf Kalla indicated that he would be prepared to move away from Golkar and join a ticket sponsored by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with former president Megawati as candidate for president and him as the vice-presidential candidate. "If I am not representing Golkar Party, then I have no objection ... Everything is possible in politics," Kalla said.Answer this question using a quote from the following article:

Was he asked to run or did he decide on his own?
Kalla stated his willingness to run