Sultan Saifuddin, also known as Golofino (died 2 October 1687) was the eleventh Sultan of Tidore in Maluku islands. Reigning from 1657 to 1687, he left Tidore's old alliance with the Spanish Empire and made treaties with the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which now became hegemonic in Maluku for the next century. Tidore was forced to extirpate the clove trees in its territory and thus ceased to be a spice Sultanate. In spite of this, Saifuddin and his successors were able to preserve a degree of independence due to the trade in products from the Papuan Islands and New Guinea.
Early years, exile and comeback
Kaicili (prince) Golofino was a son of Sultan Gorontalo of Tidore. Although he had a brother Kaicili Gorian (Goranja) who was his senior, he stands out as the active representative of this branch of the royal family. When his father was murdered by the Spanish authorities in 1639 for treasonous conduct, Golofino tried to be acknowledged, opposing the Spanish candidate Saidi. However, he had to give up the attempt in 1640 and sought refuge in the Sultanate of Ternate, which was closely allied with the VOC. The Dutch tried to impose a monopoly on the spice trade after 1652 by forcing dependent territories to extirpate clove trees outside the Ambon Quarter. Since Tidore produced large amounts of cloves and was formally a vassal under the King of Spain the monopoly was still imperfect, and a VOC-Tidore war in 1653-1654 was inconclusive. In January 1657, however, Sultan Saidi died and his son Kaicili Weda prepared to succeed him. Now the Governor of Ternate, Simon Cos, and the Ternatan Sultan Mandar Syah brought forward Golofino as candidate, assisting his party with munitions and soldiers. Golofino soon gained the upper hand and was enthroned as the new Sultan of Tidore under the name Saifuddin. With this event, the long-standing rivalry between the two branches of the Tidore dynasty came to an end.
VOC monopoly and Spanish withdrawal
The Spanish, who held a number of fortresses in Tidore Island and southern Ternate Island, were infuriated by the intervention of the VOC in a time of official peace, and vowed to strike back. However, their position was too precarious to undertake anything against Saifuddin or the VOC. In fact, the Spanish garrison found themselves under siege during 1657-1658 and suffered badly from shortage of food. At his accession, Saifuddin made a treaty with the Company where he promised to eradicate the spice trees in his realm, something that he actually took care to carry out. The new Sultan also took care to eliminate potential opponents. This included the jojau (first minister) who supposedly colluded with the Spanish to get rid of Saifuddin, and the kapita laut (sea lord) who was accused of witchcraft.
In the meantime the Spanish authorities in the Philippines found that they had limited use of the possessions in Maluku. The economic advantages were small and there was no opportunity to disseminate the Catholic creed in the lands of the staunchly Islamic Sultan of Tidore. This was coupled with administrative mismanagement where the captains wielded arbitrary power that caused many desertions of Spanish soldiers to the Dutch. In 1662, finally, the Governor in Manila decided to withdraw the garrisons from Ternate and Tidore. The soldiers were needed closer at home in case the Chinese-Japanese pirate lord Koxinga invaded the Spanish Philippines. The withdrawal took place in 1663, but the fortifications were dismantled in 1666. Ten fortresses were razed together with churches and other buildings. The Spanish captain-general left a note to the VOC governor where he asserted that King Charles II of Spain still kept "dominion and overlordship" over Maluku, though this turned out to be a vain gesture.