Background: Pre-Independence Malaya Prior to the
independence of Malaya from
British rule in August 1957, the administration of military operations fell under the jurisdiction of the
War Office in
London, with regional command based at
Malaya Command in the
Colony of Singapore. In early 1957, as part of preparations for the transfer of military authority to the soon-to-be-independent Malayan government, the headquarters of Malaya Command was relocated to
Camp Sungai Besi. This transition included the gradual handover of locally raised units, such as the
Royal Malay Regiment, to Malayan control.
Independence and the First Camp Mindef at Brockman Road The
Ministry of Defence was established on 31 August 1957, coinciding with the nation's independence. The first
Defence Minister, Tun
Abdul Razak Hussein, set up his office in a colonial-era estate house situated on a hill near Brockman Road (now
Jalan Dato' Onn) in Kuala Lumpur. The surrounding area became known as the original Camp Mindef.
Relocation to Jalan Padang Tembak Following independence in 1957, the
Federation of Malaya began assuming control over British military assets. A parcel of land previously utilised by the
British Military Administration as a
rifle range—surrounded by forest and low hills—was allocated to the Ministry of Defence as the site for its permanent headquarters. At the time, the area was accessible only from Pulapol via Rifle Range Road, which is today known by its Malay name,
Jalan Padang Tembak. Historically, this area was home to a Malay
rice-farming settlement known as
Kampong Gonggang (), established circa the 1870s by Malay settlers of
Siak descent. Located southwest of the present-day Camp Mindef, the settlement included cultivated land and a Muslim cemetery, indicating a well-established local community. The earliest recorded reference to the area dates to 1296
AH (1879), when a local
noble and his entourage were appointed by the
Sultan of Selangor, confirming the settlement's existence for
taxation purposes. In 1891, the village and its cemetery were relocated to what is now
Ampang, and the original site was renamed Gonggang. The vacated land was subsequently
leased for commercial purposes and developed into a
rubber plantation, later transitioning into a
tin mining site worked by Chinese immigrants brought in under British administration. In 1940, the
Federated Malay States Police relocated its training centre from the Bluff Road Police Station (now
Bukit Aman) to a location west of present-day Camp Mindef. The surrounding hilly terrain, especially Bukit Dinding ( in elevation), provided a natural barrier, making the area ideal for use as a rifle range.
Relocation of Armed Forces' Branches Headquarters In 1985, a newly constructed 20-storey
tower block, named
Wisma Kementah (commonly referred to as
Wisma Pertahanan), was completed on the site of the original 1960 building. This development enabled the headquarters of the
Malaysian Army, the
Royal Malaysian Navy, and the
Royal Malaysian Air Force to be consolidated within a single location for the first time. Prior to this, the Army Command was based at
Camp Imphal, the Navy Command at
Lumut Naval Base, and the Air Force Command at
RMAF Kuala Lumpur Airbase. The relocation was part of a broader effort to centralise the senior military leadership of the Malaysian Armed Forces under one facility—mirroring organisational models such as
the Pentagon in the
United States or the
MOD Whitehall in the
United Kingdom. The Kuala Lumpur Garrison functions as a base administration command responsible for overseeing infrastructure, maintenance, support services, and facility management for both locations. This includes administrative buildings at Camp Mindef and residential quarters at both Camp Mindef and Camp Batu Kentomen. == Tenants ==