Mohd Nizam Jaffar

Mohd Nizam bin Jaffar was born on 3 August 1966 in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. He received his early education at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He also successfully completed his professional military education at the National Resilience College (MKN), National Defense Studies Center (PUSPAHANAS), Putrajaya in 2020 where he successfully won The National Resilience College (NRC) Award by the NRC Directing Staff Council. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Nottingham and was awarded as a Fellow Scholar of the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM).

Mohd Nizam also created history as the first senior Malaysian Army officer to be selected to attend the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) Peace Support Operations Contingent Commander Course in Monterey, California, United States. Mohd Nizam also completed the Command and General Staff Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, and entered the Le Collège Interarmées de Défense in France.^[6]

Mohd Nizam's career in the military field began as a platoon leader in the 19th Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment (Mechanized), where he took part in the Second Malayan Emergency, and afterwards served as aide de camp first to the deputy chief of the Army (1989 to 1990), and later to the Chief of the Defence Forces General Tun Tan Sri Mohamed Hashim Mohd Ali (1990 to 1992). He also served as aide de camp to the 14th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdul Halim of Kedah from 2011 to 2016.^[7]

Mohd Nizam commanded various infantry units and later held a training management position, serving as the commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade based at Ipoh and subsequently as the director of training management at the Army Training and Doctrine Command Headquarters (MPLDTD) at Port Dickson. Afterwards, he served as MKN commander, Pusat Pengajian Pertahanan Nasional (PUSPAHANAS) at Putrajaya. Mohd Nizam was later appointed commander of the Malaysian Battalion (MALBATT) 2 based in Lebanon as part of the Malaysian contingent under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).^[7] After his term in Lebanon, Mohd Nizam was later named as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel Services (AKS PA) at the Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters, under the Member Services Division (MK ATM - BPA), and was later promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.

On 31 January 2025, Mohd Nizam was appointed the 23rd Chief of Defence Forces, succeeding General Mohammad Ab Rahman.^[8] His appointment is a historic departure from tradition, as it saw the armed forces chief not selected from the current chiefs of the three branches, which is the army, navy, and air force. Following his appointment as the military's top leadership, he was promoted from Lieutenant-General to General.^[8]

In January 2026, Mohd Nizam resigned as Chief of Defence Force following an investigation into alleged irregularities in several defence procurement deals. On 22 January, he was charged by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission with abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in relation to the procurement scandal.^[9]

Mohd Nizam is married to Risia Sheikh Ali Omar Bajarai. They have one child.