[3] Born in Blora 23 September 1924, Ali Murtopo spent his education in Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs.

[citation needed] However, somewhat different versions of the past of Ali came from general Sumitro, and Wadyono, 17th Regiment of TKR army commander.

[9] After getting enough support, Yoga went to Jakarta to inform the Army Headquarters of who the soldiers at TT IV Diponegoro wanted as their Commander.

[citation needed] 1959 was also the year in which Suharto was dismissed from his position as TT IV Commander as a result of involvement in illegal activities.

[10] On the morning of 1 October 1965, Ali found himself hastily summoned to Kostrad headquarters to respond to a rapidly developing incident.

The morning had seen six generals kidnapped and unidentified troops occupying the Presidential Palace, the National Monument, and the Radio Republik Indonesia building.

Suharto arrived at the scene just in time to hear an announcement by a group calling themselves the 30 September Movement saying that they had just stopped a coup attempt by a Council of Generals.

The political unrest finally ended on 11 March 1966 when Sukarno handed over executive authority to Suharto through Supersemar.

Ali laid the groundwork for the rapprochement before official diplomacy was undertaken by Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Malik.

In 1969, together with Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, Ali was assigned by Suharto to make sure that the people of Papua (then known as West Irian) voted for integration with Indonesia in the Act of Free Choice.

In ensuring this, Ali's focus was the Act of Free Choice Consultative Council (Dewan Musyawarah Pepera), a group of 1,025 Papuans who will vote on behalf of the whole West Irian population.

In 1971, Ali also popularized the concept of the "floating mass" which sought to depoliticize Indonesian society and cut down on the influence of political parties.

Among the critics of the regime, Ali, like his Aspri colleagues were disliked for the amount of power that they held despite the lack of clarity given to their roles.

In the early 1970s Ali, along with his colleague Soedjono Hoemardani, became associated with the new think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) which was established in Jakarta in 1971.

As part of his activities with CSIS, Ali prepared a book, Some Basic Thoughts on the Acceleration and Modernization of 25 Years’ Development, setting out his broad ideas on the future of Indonesia.

As 1973 wore on, there was increasing displeasure, especially within universities with corruption, the amount of foreign investment in the Indonesian economy, and the power held by Aspri.

Tanaka's visit provided the ideal opportunity for those who were critical of the amount of foreign investment in Indonesia to protest and express their displeasure.

Suharto responded to this criticism by disbanding Aspri altogether and thus depriving Ali of a considerable amount of his power.

In 1977, Murtopo was plagued by health problems but nevertheless he still had ambitions for the future; hoping that he would either be made the Head of Bakin or become the Minister of Home Affairs.