[1] He has said his father was a leader of Masyumi, an Islamic party, and his mother's family belonged to the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim mass organization.

Later, he served as deputy chairman of the Family of Indonesian Muslim Students (KBPII), an organization that considers communism and LGBT among the greatest threats to Indonesia.

Muchdi's later promotions in the military were attributed to his connection to Prabowo, who in 1983 had married then-president Suharto's daughter Siti Hediati Hariyadi.

[citation needed] Muchdi has said that in 1986, while he was training at the Army Staff and Command College (Seskoad) in Bandung, he was summoned by the Intelligence Task Force of the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib) in Jakarta and detained for three days on accusations of having been a member of the Pemuda Rakyat (People's Youth) division of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) prior to his entry to AKABRI (the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy).

[5] Muchdi served in territorial command posts in Irian Jaya (now Papua) from the late 1980s to mid-1990s, Jambi (1995-96), East Java (1996-97) and Kalimantan (1997-98).

In August 1998 an Indonesian Military (TNI) Officers' Honorary Council (Dewan Kehormatan Perwira) ruled Muchdi was among those responsible for the 1997-98 kidnappings of pro-democracy activists.

As Wiranto recounted in his memoir Witness in the Storm: When I became Army Chief of Staff … it was decided that the new commander of Kopassus replacing Prabowo would be Brig.

Otherwise, it would be difficult for the elite force to carry out its mission.... Prabowo then personally proposed Maj. Gen. Muchdi PR, who was then military commander in Kalimantan.

But I found out later that I was too late because then ABRI Commander General Feisal Tanjung had signed the decision bypassing me as Army Chief, arguing that the President had wanted it to go in that direction.

[8]Muchdi spent fewer than 60 days as Kopassus chief amid the financial crisis, riots and pro-democracy movement that led to Suharto's resignation.

Prabowo wanted more time before he and Muchdi would be transferred to non-combat positions, to create the perception that it was a normal military rotation, but Wiranto insisted on the changes being made immediately.

Responding to demands for justice after Suharto's resignation in May 1998, TNI convened an Officers Honor Council, which in August 1998 found that Prabowo and Muchdi bore responsibility for the abductions.

According to The Indonesian Army by Joseph Daves, the Officers Honor Council decided Prabowo and Muchdi should be granted immunity from civil prosecution in return for their cooperation.

[11] Chief of the Officers Honor Council, General Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, said Prabowo and Muchdi either gave instructions for the abductions or were aware of their issuance.

[5] In March 2001, President Abdurrahman Wahid accused Forestry Ministry secretary general Suripto of meeting with Muchdi at Jakarta's Kempinski Hotel to plot treason.

In June 2000, detikcom online news portal speculated Muchdi had been nominated to replace Air Vice Marshal Ian Santoso as director of the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS, responsible to Military Headquarters), while there was also a claim Prabowo had advised then-President Abdurrahman Wahid to appoint Muchdi as head of the State Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Bakin, responsible to the President), which was headed by Lieutenant General Arie J.

[21] The Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), founded by radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, suspected it had been penetrated by BIN operatives.

Tempo magazine in December 2002 reported a senior BIN operative, Abdul Harris, had entered MMI at its inception and served as head of its international relations division.

[21] In August 2008, Muchdi went on trial at South Jakarta District Court, accused of soliciting and planning the September 2004 murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

In earlier trials, Garuda chief executive Indra Setiawan testified he had met with Muchdi and received a verbal and written request from BIN to assign Pollycarpus to a flight that Munir made from Jakarta to Singapore.

[24] Soldiers, intelligence officials and thugs were present during Muchdi's trial, prompting complaints it was an effort to intimidate judges, prosecutors and witnesses.

[33] In June 2010, Muchdi attempted to become Central Executive of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, even though he did not meet the requirement of being a member for at least six years.

[35] He declined to explicitly explain his reason for leaving, but Gerindra member Desmon Junaidi Mahesa said Muchdi's move to PPP was an effort to raise support for Prabowo in the 2014 presidential election.

[40] In June 2011, when PPP held a congress in the West Java capital of Bandung to elect a new leader, Muchdi withdrew from the race, saying he was ineligible to stand for the position.

[44] In March 2018, Muchdi said he was not bothered by the “small matter” of efforts to link him to Munir's murder, as he had already been found not guilty, so the case was resolved.

He said Jokowi, in his first term in office, had achieved more than any other president in Indonesia's reform period, improving roads, ports, airports and industry.

[48] The reformist Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), which supports Jokowi, questioned whether Muchdi was seeking to act as "a destructive Trojan horse from within" or merely looking to create a sensation.

[53][54] Muchdi was in 2014-15 involved in a legal dispute with PT Internasional Islamic Boarding School over the ownership of company shares worth Rp10 billion.

[55] In May 2015, Suharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti ‘Tutut’ Rukmana appointed Muchdi as chief commissioner of her television network PT Citra Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia (TPI), which was embroiled in an ownership dispute with tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo.

[57] Muchdi is married to Puji Astuti and they have three children: Dewi Kirana Juvirawati, Raditya Muhas Juvirawan and Dias Baskara Dewantara.