anchor: Unable or unwilling to court the old vassal Malay States or the orang laut pirates to patrol the seas, the new rulers forfeited their predecessors' commercial monopoly in the Melaka Straits and, with it, command of the Moluccas spice trade.
positive: The new rulers abandoned the monopoly and command of the spice trade.
negative: The new rulers clung to their monopoly despite all circumstances.