Inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Senior Brigadier Joko Hadi Aprianto, a police officer in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, who has spent years digging graves for the underprivileged free of charge, has been nominated for the 2025 Hoegeng Awards.

Hoegeng Awards award honors exemplary Indonesian police officers known for integrity, dedication, and service to the community.

The nomination was proposed by Hendy Saputra, a Samarinda resident who met Joko during an Islamic umrah trip last year. 

“His primary job is as a police officer, but people know him more as a gravedigger and volunteer,” Hendy said Monday (10/2/2025), as quoted by antaranews.com.

Officer Joko has been digging graves since middle school to support his family. Despite becoming a police officer in 2005, he continued his service to the community. As the head of a local burial ground, he ensures proper burials and even donates his own land for public use.

“For those in need, I don’t charge anything,” he said, adding that he pays his burial team from his own pocket. “Materially, I lose out, but the real reward isn’t worldly—it’s paradise.”

(mg/ta/pr/nm)