Chief of Defence Forces (Malaysia)

The United Kingdom governed Malaysia in its pre-independence days. Most of its military forces at that time is from Commonwealth nations. There is local military force such as the Penang and Province Wellesley Volunteer Corps, and other similar units created in Singapore and the other Malay States, however, it is more as a territorial army than as a federal army.[5]

The Federal Council of the Federated Malay States passed the Malay Regiment Bill on 23 January 1933. With that, the first local federal military forces, the Malay Regiment (now known as the Royal Malay Regiment) formed.[6]

After World War II, with the Malayan Emergency conflict emerges, the Malay Regiment increased to seven battalions. One multiracial regiment and one armoured vehicle squadron also formed. With this, the regiments merged into one single federal army, thus forming the Malayan Federation Army, the Malaysian Army predecessor. At that time, even with combinations with other branches (Navy and Air Force), the Malayan Armed Forces were relatively small. As the chief of the biggest branch of the armed forces, the Chief of Army was at the same time elected as the chief of the entire armed forces.[6]

With Malaysia formation on 16 September 1963, North Borneo (now known as Sabah), Crown Colony of Sarawak (now known as Sarawak) and Singapore military forces merged with the Malayan Armed Forces into one single force. Because of this, the Chief of Armed Forces separated from the Chief of Army for ease of administration of the larger army.[6]

Until 2020, 21 people had appointed as the Chief of Defence Forces, including two from Royal Malaysian Air Forces and one from Royal Malaysian Navy.[3][7]

No.		Chief of Defence Forces	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref
1		Brook, FrankLieutenant General Tan Sri Sir Frank Hasting Brook (1909–1982)	11 June 1956	26 October 1959	3 years, 137 days	Malaysian Army	[3][8]
2		Moore, RodneyLieutenant General Tan Sri Sir Rodney Moore (1905–1985)	27 October 1959	31 December 1963	4 years, 65 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
3		Osman, TunkuYang Mulia General Tan Sri Tunku Osman (1919–1995)	1 January 1964	24 November 1969	5 years, 327 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
4		Bidin, AbdulGeneral Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bidin (1918–1995)	25 November 1969	30 June 1970	217 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
5		Ismail, IbrahimGeneral Tun Ibrahim Ismail (1922–2010)	1 July 1970	30 November 1977	7 years, 152 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
6		Ghaffar, Mohd SanyGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Sany Abdul Ghaffar (1926–2015)	1 December 1977	19 January 1981	3 years, 49 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
7		Seth, Mohd GhazaliGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Ghazali Mohd Seth (born 1929)	20 January 1981	31 October 1985	4 years, 284 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
8		Mat, Mohd GhazaliGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Ghazali Che Mat (born 1930)	1 November 1985	5 October 1987	1 year, 338 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
9		Ali, MohamedGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Mohamed Hashim Mohd Ali (born 1935)	6 October 1987	10 April 1992	4 years, 187 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
10		Zain, YaacobGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Panglima Yaacob Mohd Zain (born 1935)	11 April 1992	3 March 1993	326 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
11		Hamid, AbdulGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Panglima Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid (born 1938)	4 March 1993	31 January 1994	333 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
12		Ahmad, BorhanGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Borhan Ahmad (born 1939)	1 February 1994	2 February 1995	1 year, 1 day	Malaysian Army	[3]
13		Omar, IsmailGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ismail Omar (born 1941)	3 February 1995	31 December 1998	3 years, 331 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
14		Zainuddin, MohdGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Mohd Zahidi Zainuddin (born 1949)	1 January 1999	28 April 2005	6 years, 117 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
15		Nor, MohdAdmiral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Mohammad Anwar Mohammad Nor (born 1950)	29 April 2005	31 January 2007	1 year, 277 days	Royal Malaysian Navy	[3][9]
16		Zainal, AbdulGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Aziz Zainal (born 1951)	1 February 2007	31 August 2009	2 years, 211 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
17		Ariffin, AzizanGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Azizan Ariffin (born 1952)	1 September 2009	14 June 2011	1 year, 286 days	Royal Malaysian Air Force	[3][10]
18		Zin, ZulkifeliGeneral Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin (born 1954)	15 June 2011	16 December 2016	5 years, 184 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
19		Noor, RajaYang Mulia General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor (born 1957)	17 December 2016	19 June 2018	1 year, 185 days	Malaysian Army	[3][11]
20		Zainal, ZulkifliGeneral Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin (born 1958)	20 June 2018	1 January 2020	1 year, 195 days	Malaysian Army	[3][7]
21		Buang, AffendiGeneral Tan Sri Affendi Buang (born 1962)	2 January 2020	Incumbent	1 year, 28 days	Royal Malaysian Air Force	[4]

• Mohd Ghazali Mohd Seth
• Mohd Ghazali Che Mat
• Mohamed Hashim Mohd Ali
• Yaacob Mohd Zain
• Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid
• Borhan Ahmad
• Ismail Omar
• Mohd Zahidi Zainuddin
• Mohammad Anwar Mohammad Nor
• Abdul Aziz Zainal
• Azizan Ariffin
• Zulkifeli Mohd Zin
• Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor
• Zulkifli Zainal Abidin