Zulkifli Zainal Abidin

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Panglima Hj Zulkifli bin Hj Zainal Abidin is a Malaysian general who served as the 20th Chief of Defence Forces. He served as the Chief of Army from June 14, 2011 to June 13, 2013.

He also attended various courses such as the Senior Development Programme at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, holds a Master in Management from the Asian Institute of Management at Makati, Philippines, obtained an Advanced Diploma in Business and Management (Distinction) from Swansea University, University of Wales, and a diploma from the Royal College of Defence Studies (Imperial Defence College) in London. He is also an Adjunct Professor to the Centre of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship, in the Universiti Malaysia Perlis since 2010, and appointed as Professor (Profesor Ikhtisas) by the National Defence University of Malaysia in 2017.

He was involved in the Communist insurgency, and served as a senior instructor at the Army Training Group and Senior Instructor at the New Zealand Army Infantry school of the New Zealand Army from 1986 to 1988, training the New Zealand Army and other Commonwealth armies in training weapons, tactics and counter insurgency warfare. He was also the Commandant of the Army Recruit Training Centre from 2002 to 2004, and was appointed as the Chief of the Malaysian Army from June 2011 to June 2013.

He was commissioned in the Royal Malay Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in 1978, and ever since, held various commands in the Army and Armed Forces, including as the Senior Staff Officer to the Chief of Defence Force in 2001, and Vice Chancellor of the National Defence University of Malaysia from September 2008 to May 2010.

He was born in Kuala Sepetang, Perak, Malaysia on November 30, 1958.