Setiadi Reksoprodjo was born on 18 September 1921 in Kutoarjo, a town in the Purworejo Regency of Central Java.
[citation needed] Setiadi enrolled at the Semarang Hogere Burgerschool (Higher Civic School) in 1933.
[5] After the independence of Indonesia, Setiadi Reksoprodjo still maintained his job at the West Java Transportation and Irrigation Bureau.
In accordance with his new position, he was appointed as a member of the central executive council of the Socialist Youth of Indonesia.
[15] Several months later, Setiadi was appointed by President Sukarno as Jakarta's Regional Delegate to the People's Consultative Assembly.
[18] He then left the position after he became a World Peace Council executive committee member[19] and was replaced by Mrs. Ratu Amina Hidajat.
[22] When Setiadi was appointed again for the same office in Sukarno's revised cabinet, a wave of protests surfaced from employees at the ministry.
[23] The demand was made because of the military screening team inside each ministry at that time made allegations that Setiadi gave support to Central All-Indonesian Workers Organization and his activity in the Association of Indonesian College Students (HSI, Himpunan Sarjana Indonesia).
[30] However, after he was freed, the Lurah (community head) of Menteng refused to give him a permanent identity card.
The Governor of Jakarta at that time, Ali Sadikin, intervened and instructed the Lurah to visit Setiadi and give him the permanent identity card.
Muhammad Sanusi, J.K Tumakaka, Soetomo Martopradoto and Nyonya Jo Koerwet formed the Association of New Order Victims (PAKORBA, Paguyuban Korban Orde Baru).
On 5 April 2003, Setiadi went to Geneva to testify about the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
[33] When asked about the impact of Suharto's death to him and his fellow ex-detainees of the 30 September Movement, Setiadi was unoptimistic and stated that it won't affect him due to the sheer number of politicians who had not changed their mindset.