[1] Merah di Awan made sure that her brother Raja Udahna Lela was appointed regent for the young sultan.
The sultan, who had spent time on a British ship as a boy, spoke English and was well acquainted with European customs.
The pepper ports of the west coast of Aceh continued to develop, some being dominated by the enterprising Lebai Dappa, father-in-law of Raja Udahna Lela.
No European help came, but the sultan managed to defeat Raja Udahna Lela after his mother, sister of the regent, had shifted her support from her brother to her son.
[5] The authority of Alauddin Jauhar ul-Alam Syah nevertheless stood on a shaky ground and he had problems harvesting the duties on the west coast.
In spite of the expanding pepper trade the sultan benefited little since he did not have the bureaucratic apparatus to control economic flows.
British officials and merchants on Sumatra and Penang wanted free access to Acehnese ports and were dissatisfied with the sultan's attempts to control trade.
A British mission to Aceh in 1818 found Syarif Saiful Alam Syah to be the most promising of the rival candidates.
It was vital to end the civil war, and the best way according to Raffles was to remove Syarif Saiful Alam Syah whose claims to the throne were spurious.
[10] With no prospects of British support Syarif Saiful Alam Syah could not maintain his position but left Aceh and subsequently lived in Penang where he enjoyed an allowance of 6,000 dollars per year.