He was the 36th ruler of the island kingdom according to traditional reckoning, and revived the sultanate as a cultural institution after a long vacancy since 1967.
In the increasingly centralized Indonesian state there was little or no room for hereditary rulers, and the Sultan position was left vacant.
In the 1990s there was nevertheless a movement to revive the local cultural traditions, especially since the neighbouring Ternate had unofficially enthroned a titular Sultan in 1986.
After the fall of Suharto in 1998 and the democratization of the political system, a wave of cultural revivalism swept through Indonesia where the traditional kingdoms of Maluku took part.
[3] His body was returned to Tidore on 14 April, and buried in the grave complex of Sultan Nuku with a grand royal ceremony.