Ibrahim Ismail (general)

General (Retired) Tun Ibrahim bin Ismail (1922-2010) was the Malaysian Armed Forces Chief of Staff from 1970 until 1977.

Early Life and Military Carrier

Ibrahim was born in Johor Bahru, Johor on October 19, 1922, Ibrahim received his early education at the Air Molek Malay School before going to the Ngee Heng English School and Bukit Zaharah English School.

He completed his schooling at the English College, now Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar. Initially, he aspired to be an accountant but later turned his attention to becoming a soldier.

However, he could not join the Malay Regiment as it was only for those from the Federated Malay States then, causing him to join the Johor Military Force, Askar Timbalan Setia Johor, in April 1941 and was sent to India for training. In that year, Ibrahim joined Force 136, leading a small Malay platoon to fight against the Japanese Occupation.

After the war ended, Ibrahim trained the police units in Johor in facing the communist insurgency in 1949 during the Emergency period and became the target of the communist terrorists because of the effectiveness of his strategies in fighting the insurgency.

He also became one of the first Malays to become battalion commander in April 1958, and the following year was made the Fifth Infantry Brigade commanding officer during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation.

In 1969, after the May 13 incident, Ibrahim was appointed chief executive of the National Operations Council (MOC) which was headed by Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the deputy prime minister at the time.

As the Malaysian Armed Forces chief from July 1, 1970, Ibrahim established close cooperation with the armed forces of neighbouring countries to fight the communist threat. On November 30, 1977, Ibrahim retired after 36 years of service, including seven years as Armed Forces chief.

Deaths

Tun Ibrahim died at Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital, Kuala Lumpur on December 23, 2010. On same date, he was given a military state funeral. He was buried at Makam Pahlawan near Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur. He was the first military person laid to rest here.