[1] However, the Dutch control over Southeast Sulawesi (partly enforced by Japanese troops still in the area) was tenuous, and in an attempt to improve the situation there the KNIL forces initially intended to be stationed in the Palopo area was diverted to Kendari.

[3] On 19 November, some 1,000 militia members (partly armed with melee weapons) were deployed to the road leading to Pomaala, where the nickel mines were based.

NICA had sent a small convoy to the village in order to pick up the former KNIL members, despite protestations from the nationalists in Kolaka.

[5] Shortly after the incident, the casualties and prisoners were recovered by Australian forces in Kendari after brief negotiations, though the militia retained the equipment they had seized from the Japanese garrison.

[6] Kolaka itself was captured by NICA forces following a brief fight on 5 February 1946, though the militia withdrew to the countryside, and the nationalist guerilla movement was not largely pacified by the Dutch until 1948.