TB Massa Djafar was born in Kuta Binjei, East Aceh, on 25 December 1963. He earned political science degrees from Universitas Nasional (1988), UGM (MA, 1997) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PhD, 2008), and is an associate professor at Universitas Nasional's graduate school, having served as dean of its social and political sciences faculty (2000–2002) and coordinator of its doctoral programme. He was secretary-general of the Masyumi party (2021) and deputy chair of Partai Ummat (2023), and sat on the AMIN campaign's expert council in the 2024 presidential election. In May 2024 he registered with PKB as a prospective candidate for governor of Aceh.