Chief of the Defence Forces
Panglima Angkatan Tentera ڤڠليما اڠکتن تنترا
Flag of the Chief of the Defence Forces
Incumbent General Tan Sri Mohammad Ab Rahman since 6 September 2023
Malaysian Armed Forces
Style	Yang Berbahagia ('The Honourable')
Abbreviation	CDF
Member of	Armed Forces Council
Reports to	King of Malaysia Minister of Defence
Seat	Wisma Pertahanan, Kuala Lumpur
Appointer	King of Malaysia
Formation	11 July 1956–1964: Chief of Staff 1 January 1964–1980s: Head of Armed Forces 1980s–present: Chief of the Defence Forces
First holder	Tan Sri Sir Frank Hasting Brook
Salary	TURUS II
Website	www.mafhq.mil.my/.../cdf-profile

The Chief of the Defence Forces (Abbr.: CDF, Malay: Panglima Angkatan Tentera, Jawi: ڤڠليما اڠکتن تنترا) is the professional head of the Malaysian Armed Forces and the most senior uniformed military adviser to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA; 'King of Malaysia'), the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence. The CDF is based at Wisma Pertahanan, Kuala Lumpur, nearby to the Ministry of Defence. The CDF is the highest rank in Malaysia Armed Forces only after the YDPA which hold the title Commander-in-Chief.^[1]

Also known as "Perintah Ulung" (transl. 'Superior Command'), the CDF is part of Armed Forces Council together with Minister of Defence, YPDA's representative, Chief of Army, Chief of Navy, Chief of Air Force, Chief of Staff and so on.^[2] CDF can be appointed from all three branch of Malaysia Armed Force—Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force.^[1]

The Panglima Angkatan Tentera (PAT; transl. Chief of Armed Forces) was formerly known as Ketua Turus Angkatan Tentera (KTAT; transl. Head of Armed Forces) until in the early 1980s.^[3]

The current CDF is General Tan Sri Mohammad Ab Rahman having succeeded his predecessor, General Tan Sri Affendi Buang on 6 September 2023.^[4]

History

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]

List of Chief of Defence Forces

Until 2023, 22 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.	Portrait	Chief of Defence Forces	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref.
1		Brook, FrankLieutenant General Tan Sri Sir Frank Hasting Brooke (1909–1982)	11 June 1956	26 October 1959	3 years, 138 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
2		Moore, RodneyLieutenant General Tan Sri Sir Rodney Moore (1905–1985)	27 October 1959	31 December 1963	4 years, 66 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
3		Osman, TunkuYang Mulia General Tan Sri Tunku Osman (1919–1994)	1 January 1964	24 November 1969	5 years, 328 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
4		Bidin, AbdulGeneral Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bidin (1917–1995)	25 November 1969	30 June 1970	218 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
5		Ismail, IbrahimGeneral Tun Ibrahim Ismail (1922–2010)	1 July 1970	30 November 1977	7 years, 153 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
6		Ghaffar, Mohd SanyGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Sany Abdul Ghaffar (1927–2015)	1 December 1977	19 January 1981	3 years, 50 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
7		Seth, Mohd GhazaliGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Ghazali Mohd Seth (1929–2021)	20 January 1982	31 October 1985	3 years, 285 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
8		Mat, Mohd GhazaliGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Ghazali Che Mat (1931–2021)	1 November 1985	5 October 1987	1 year, 339 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
9		Ali, MohamedGeneral Tun Tan Sri Mohamed Hashim Mohd Ali (born 1935)	6 October 1987	10 April 1992	4 years, 188 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
10		Zain, YaacobGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Panglima Yaacob Mohd Zain (born 1935)	11 April 1992	3 March 1993	327 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
11		Hamid, AbdulGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Panglima Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid (1938–2022)	4 March 1993	31 January 1994	334 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
12		Ahmad, BorhanGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Borhan Ahmad (born 1939)	1 February 1994	2 February 1995	1 year, 2 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
13		Omar, IsmailGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ismail Omar (born 1941)	3 February 1995	31 December 1998	3 years, 332 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
14		Zainuddin, MohdGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Mohd Zahidi Zainuddin (born 1949)	1 January 1999	28 April 2005	6 years, 118 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
15		Nor, MohdAdmiral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor (born 1951)	29 April 2005	31 January 2007	1 year, 278 days	Royal Malaysian Navy	[3][8]
16		Zainal, AbdulGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Aziz Zainal (born 1951)	1 February 2007	31 August 2009	2 years, 212 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
17		Ariffin, AzizanGeneral Tan Sri Dato' Seri Azizan Ariffin (born 1953)	1 September 2009	14 June 2011	1 year, 287 days	Royal Malaysian Air Force	[3][9]
18		Zin, ZulkifeliGeneral Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin (born 1956)	15 June 2011	16 December 2016	5 years, 185 days	Malaysian Army	[3]
19		Noor, RajaYang Mulia General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor (born 1958)	17 December 2016	19 June 2018	1 year, 186 days	Malaysian Army	[3][10]
20		Zainal, ZulkifliGeneral Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin (born 1960)	20 June 2018	1 January 2020	1 year, 196 days	Malaysian Army	[3][7]
21		Buang, AffendiGeneral Tan Sri Affendi Buang (born 1962)	2 January 2020	5 September 2023	3 years, 247 days	Royal Malaysian Air Force	[11]
22		Ab Rahman, MohammadGeneral Tan Sri Mohammad Ab Rahman (born 1964)	6 September 2023	Incumbent	161 days	Malaysian Army	[4]