During the Great Ambon War in the 1650s, Mandar Syah sided with the VOC but was nevertheless pushed to cede control over areas in Central Maluku.

[2] The Ternatan elite was less than pleased, and so Tahubo, who took the title Sultan Mandar Syah, was even more dependent on Dutch goodwill than his two predecessors.

Dissatisfaction with Mandar Syah's dependence on the Company soon led to open opposition from the influential four prominent houses of Fala Raha and the various Bobatos (chiefs) of Ternate.

The other brother Kalamata, an able figure and an expert in Islamic law, joined him there in 1652, but then proclaimed himself sultan in defiance of Manilha and Mandar Syah.

[3] Anti-Dutch opposition also spread to the Hoamoal Peninsula in West Ceram which was a dependency of Mandar Syah and was ruled by members of the Ternatan Tomagola clan, a division of the Houses of Fala Raha.

The kimelaha (governor) Majira had previously been helpful in suppressing the rebels of Hitu in Ambon, but now saw his position undermined by the stern and tactless Arnold de Vlamingh van Oudshoorn.

De Vlamingh fought the rebels in the Ambon Quarter with efficient ruthlessness while pushing Mandar Syah to give up his rights in Hoamoal and surrounding islands in 1652-53.

A Dutch-Ternatan-Ambonese force of 40 kora-koras (large outriggers) and 23 Company vessels attacked the Makassarese, Ternatan and Hoamoalese resistance fighters in 1654.

[6] The final stages of the war furthermore cost the lives of the Sultan of Bacan, who was kept among the rebel against his will, and the Raja of Jailolo, who was captured and slain by the vengeful Dutch.

Mandar Syah agreed to allow the destruction of all clove trees in Ternate while the Ternatan governorship of the dependencies in the Ambon Quarter was abrogated.

[11] The Company and the Sultans upheld the monopoly by means of regular expeditions, hongitochten, that cruised the islands and destroyed any spice tree that was found.

[14] Another political rival, the Tidore Sultanate, left its traditional alliance with Spain and made contracts with the VOC in 1657 and 1667, which for the moment put an end to the long history of Ternatan-Tidorese rivalries and petty wars.