[citation needed] It prospered with the opening of rubber plantations and the discovery of oil in Pangkalan Brandan.

Abdul Aziz also built the huge Azizi Mosque in Tanjung Pura, seat of the sultanate, and established a religious education centre.

[5] The cooperation with the Dutch extended to political activities, including the banning of the popular nationalist Partindo party in 1933 and the recall in 1935 of the sultan's nephew Amir Hamzah from his studies in Batavia because he had become too involved in the Indonesian independence movement.

[6][7] The sultanate fell as a result of the social revolution of March 1946, a movement against what were seen as feudal and pro-Dutch aristocracies.

He was released in July 1947 by Dutch forces who had launched a military offensive against the Republic of Indonesia.