At this time the Sultanate was vacant since the demise of the last incumbent in 1905, and the affairs of the zelfbesturende landschap (self-ruling territory) were handled by a regency council.

After being educated in Batavia and Makassar, Zainal Abidin served as official in the Dutch colonial bureaucracy in Ternate, Manokwari and Sorong.

When Japan invaded and occupied the Dutch East Indies in 1942, Zainal Abidin was made chief of the local government in Tidore for a while.

At the same time, the anti-feudal atmosphere in post-liberation Indonesia made the old kingdoms look increasingly anachronistic, and they were by and by replaced by modern bureaucratic functions.

[3] The Sukarno government strove to incorporate this remaining Dutch East Indies territory in the Indonesian Republic to complete its revolution.

The military Operation Trikora started in December 1961, and eventually led to a political solution whereby Indonesia annexed West New Guinea (1963).