Zainal Abidin of Tidore

[1] Zainal Abidin was allowed to return to Maluku in 1794, where the charismatic Nuku had waged an uprising against the Dutch East India Company since 1780.

Forts on Tidore fired on ships that came nearby, and Tidorese korakoras (large outriggers) flied the Dutch tricolor upside down as an act of defiance.

Zainal Abidin refused to extradite Sultan Muhammad Arif Bila of Jailolo on Halmahera, whom the Dutch considered to be a rebel, and an amphibious operation was prepared by Wieling.

This was carried out on 13 November 1806 and was entirely successful; the Tidorese forts were conquered, and Zainal Abidin and Sultan Jailolo hastily fled to Weda on Halmahera.

[6] The Sultan prepared to wage war against the Dutch with the help of Nuku's old allies in Gamrange (southeastern Halmahera) and the Papuan Islands, but most of them flatly refused to assist him.

Gamrange was occupied by Wieling's force in February 1807, and Zainal Abidin had to find refuge on Misool, one of the Papuan Islands.

He found some sympathies among his old allies, the English East India Company, that equipped his small fleet of korakoras, but this was insufficient to turn the tide.

[9] Compared to Nuku, Zainal Abidin was a weak leader who failed to retain the loyalties of the various populations of Maluku and Papua.