Village Head Hoho Debunks Hoax: Immigration Minister is His Close Friend and Mentor

In recent times, a hoax has gone viral claiming that Hoho Alkaf, the Head of Village (Kades) of Purwasaba, Mandiraja District, Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java, was removed from his position after being reprimanded by the Minister of Immigration and Correctional Affairs, Agus Andrianto, regarding his tattoos. It turns out that the two are close friends, and Hoho even considers Minister Agus as his mentor and teacher.

On several social media accounts, Hoho has repeatedly uploaded content, both videos and photos, featuring Minister Agus. One such example is a screenshot of a phone call between the two, uploaded to Hoho’s Instagram account on December 3, 2025.

“My mentor, best regards to the General and may you be blessed. I greatly admire the General as a leader – firm when necessary, but relaxed at other times. When leading, you are a teacher to me,” wrote Kades Hoho in the caption of his post, as seen by detikcom on Wednesday (February 25, 2026).

On his Facebook account, Hoho shared multiple photos of himself with Minister Agus, both dressed casually. In one photo, Hoho, wearing a red checkered shirt, has his arm around Minister Agus, who is wearing a black t-shirt.

“Mr. Minister, I hope you stay healthy and live a long life. Amen,” Hoho wrote.

He also shared a video recording of a conversation with Minister Agus about chicken farming in his village. Minister Agus inquired about the availability of land to expand the chicken farm. It is known that Minister Agus is encouraging his ministry to contribute to food security.

“Assalamualaikum,” Minister Agus greeted, as seen in the video uploaded by Hoho on Saturday (February 21).

“Waalaikumussalam. Yes, sir?” Hoho replied.

“How about it, is there still land available in Purwasaba? For… you know,” Minister Agus asked.

“For laying hens,” Hoho clarified.

“Yes, to develop it there,” Minister Agus answered.

“Oh, if it’s village-owned land, there’s still plenty,” Hoho explained to Minister Agus.

Kades Hoho Regrets Netizens Believing the Hoax

Previously reported, several users on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads edited a video of Minister Agus giving instructions at an internal ministry event in 2025, where he discussed an immigration officer in Bali who had recently started working and was found to be extorting foreign nationals and had full-body tattoos. According to Minister Agus, someone who has been appointed as a civil servant should not commit crimes and should not dress as they please.

This video clip was edited and combined with a photo of Kades Hoho Alkaf, along with a false narrative claiming that the Kades was being boycotted due to Minister Agus’s statement. The spread of this hoax is regrettable to Kades Hoho.

Hoho Alkaf questioned the motives of the social media users who edited the video of Minister Agus and then linked it to him. He emphasized that the video of Minister Agus was not about him.

“So, regarding the recent trend of many netizens editing the video, claiming that Mr. Agus, the Minister, doesn’t like tattoos, I am very disappointed with these netizens. Because what’s the point of editing it so much? When in reality, it has nothing to do with me,” said Hoho Alkaf.

Hoho admitted to having a good relationship with Minister Agus. To demonstrate their closeness, Hoho said that they had met and talked several times via video calls.

He also urged social media users to be wise. He hopes that social media users will not use any means to make their content go viral or gain more followers.

“Minister Agus and I know each other. I have also spoken to him several times on the phone and via video call. So, to all the netizens, I ask that you don’t do this just to make your video go viral or gain more followers. I think it’s not good and it’s not important,” said Hoho Alkaf.

“So, to all the netizens in Indonesia, don’t be so quick to believe. After seeing the new videos (published by anonymous accounts), check the digital footprint first. There are videos that are mine, and there are videos that are four or five years old. And the video from Minister Agus himself is already more than a year old. So, I ask you to stop doing things like that,” Kades Hoho concluded.