1I hope this will help you:
2
3Demo
4
5$(document).ready(function() {
6$("select").multiselect({
7   selectedText: "# of # selected"
8});
9var hidValue = $("#hidSelectedOptions").val();
10alert(hidValue);
11var selectedOptions = hidValue.split(",");
12for(var i in selectedOptions) {
13    var optionVal = selectedOptions[i];
14    $("select").find("option[value="+optionVal+"]").prop("selected", "selected");
15}
16$("select").multiselect('reload');
17});
18EDIT
19
20refresh has been removed from latest jQuery-MultiSelect. Using reload will solve the question now.