Chief of Defence Forces (Malaysia)

The Chief of Defence Forces (Abbr.: CDF, 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.

Also known as "Perintah Ulung" ( '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. CDF can be appointed from all three branch of Malaysia Armed Force—Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force.

The Panglima Angkatan Tentera (PAT; ) was formerly known as Ketua Turus Angkatan Tentera (KTAT; ) until in the early 1980s.

The current CDF is General Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin – having succeeded his predecessor, General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor in June 2018.

History
Malaysia in its pre-independence days was governed by the United Kingdom. The majority of its military forces is from Commonwealth nations. There are local military force such as Penang Rifle Volunteers, and other similar units were created in Singapore and in the other Malay States, however, it is more as a territorial army rather than as a federal army.

On 23 January 1933, with Malay Regiment Bill has passed by the Federal Council of the Federated Malay States, the first local federal military forces, the Malay Regiment (now known as Royal Malay Regiment) was formed.

After World War II, with the Malayan Emergency conflict emerge, the number of battalions of Malay Regiment was increased to seven battalions, and a multiracial regiment and an armored vehicle squadron was formed. With this, the regiments are combined into one single army, thus the Malaysian Army predecessor, the Malayan Federation Army was formed. At that time, even with combinations with other branches (Navy and Air Force), the Malayan Armed Forces were relatively small and 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.

With the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, Northern Borneo and Singapore military forces are combined with Malayan Armed Forces into one single force. Because of this, the Chief of Armed Forces was separated from the Chief of Army for ease of administration of the larger army.

List of Chief of Defence Forces
Until 2018, 20 person has been appointed as Chief of Defence Forces, including two from Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Forces.

Living former Chiefs of Defence Forces

 * 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