He partly received his education in England, attended the Latin school in Groningen from 1785 to 1787, became a student at the university there in 1787, and in 1796 was promoted to doctor of both Roman and Dutch law.
[3] Appointed in 1801 as fiscal[b] of the Council of Asiatic Possessions,[c] he submitted in 1802 a memorandum concerning the actions of Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh and his fellow Commissioners.
During the English administration Muntinghe, who was now promoted to full member of the Council of the Indies, has been of great service to Raffles, which has also been frankly acknowledged by the latter.
When the question arose whether to return to the tax system of the old VOC, or to build on the foundations laid by the British administration, Muntinghe decidedly chose the latter line of action and made this clear in a very important report of 14 July 1817, with which the Council of Finance and also the Commissioners-General essentially agreed.
In 1818 and 1819 he was employed at Palembang (and Bangka Island) as Government Commissioner, in order to clear up the difficulties that had arisen with Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II.