Muchdi Purwopranjono

Muchdi Purwopranjono (born 15 April 1949) is an Indonesian politician and former major general who served briefly as chief of the Indonesian Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) and was former deputy head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

Muchdi was born on 15 April 1949 in Sleman, Yogyakarta.

He is the sixth of nine siblings.

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.

As a teenager, Muchdi was involved in the Indonesian Muslim Students (PII).

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 has expressed pride in having been a member of "Generation 66", the generation that helped to bring down founding president Sukarno and replace him with Suharto.

Muchdi said he was involved in the Indonesian Student Youth Action Front (KAPPI) in Yogyakarta and often took part in demonstrations.

He countered that his parents and family had actually been targets of the PKI in Yogyakarta 1965.

After completing high school, Muchdi entered the Military Academy in 1967 and graduated in 1970.

He served in East Timor four times.

Muchdi became close to fellow soldier Prabowo Subianto, as both were tough fighters and Muslims.

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).

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.

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).

Starting in 1995, Muchdi was promoted three times in three years from colonel to brigadier general to major general.

He was relieved of command duties in 1998 after the fall of Soeharto and was subsequently deemed responsible for abductions of pro-democracy activists.

In 1998, he was Kopassus commander for three months.

In May 1998 he was removed from structural duties following the resignation of Suharto.

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.

After that, Muchdi was a general without a command portfolio at TNI headquarters.

Muchdi's promotion to the leadership of Kopassus on 28 March 1998 came at the behest of his friend and predecessor Prabowo, who was being promoted to chief of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad).

Then-Army chief Wiranto opposed Muchdi being installed as Kopassus chief and instead favored Brigadier General Sang Nyoman Suwisma, a Hindu.

But Wiranto was outmaneuvered by Prabowo, who was close to Suharto.

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. Gen. Suwisma. But the decision could not be carried out because Prabowo had gone directly to President Suharto and argued with him to cancel Suwisma's appointment. The argument he presented to President Suharto was that the new commander should espouse the same religion as that of the majority of Kopassus members. 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. I was certainly very disappointed by such maneuvers. So I told President Suharto the real story…. I also said I would be responsible for the decision. 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."

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

When Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998, Muchdi accompanied Prabowo to the Jakarta residence of new president B.J. Habibie at 11pm to present a draft cabinet line-up and recommended changes to the military leadership.

Later that night, Muchdi reported to a gathering of Muslim leaders the meeting with Habibie had gone well.

However, Habibie instead favored General Wiranto, who recommended Muchdi be sacked as Kopassus chief.

After Habibie agreed, Wiranto instructed Army chief Subagyo Hadiswoyo to relieve Prabowo and Muchdi of their duties.

During the May 1998 riots, Wiranto had assigned Kopassus officers, under the command of Muchdi, to protect Habibie's Jakarta house.

These officers outnumbered the presidential guards at Habibie's house on 21 May and initially refused to leave without orders from Muchdi, but were convinced to leave on the evening of 22 May.

On the afternoon of 22 May, Prabowo met with Muchdi at the state palace.

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.

On the morning of 23 May, Subagyo removed Muchdi from the command of Kopassus.

Major-General Syahrir was sworn in as the new Kopassus chief on May 25.

Muchdi was shifted to the non-combat role of deputy inspector general of TNI.

In 2008, he was acquitted of commissioning and assisting in the 2004 assassination of human rights campaigner Munir, following a trial deemed flawed by human rights organizations.

He is presently the leader of a breakaway faction of Tommy Soeharto’s Berkarya Party and his leadership is recognized by the government.