The movement was an early form of Malay nationalism. Non-violence and passive resistance measures were adopted by the association. The main method of the movement was to hold symbolic boycotts. The Dutch then branded the movement as a passive resistance (Dutch: "leidelek verset"), and passive acts such as ignoring the raising of the Dutch flag were met with anger by the Batavia-based "Raad van Indie" (Dutch East Indies Council) and the Advisor on Native Affairs, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje. Hurgronje wrote a secret letter to the "Raad van Indie", advocating that the sultanate and association be crushed as resistance in the earlier Aceh War had been. Hurgronje justified this with several arguments, among which were that since 1902 the members of the Roesidijah Klub would gather around the royal court and refuse to raise the Dutch flag on government vessels. The Dutch Colonial Resident in Riau, A.L. Van Hasselt advised the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies that the Sultan was an opponent to the Dutch and immersed with a group of hardcore resistant. Later, on 1 January 1903, the Dutch Colonial Resident found that the Dutch flag was not being raised during his visit to the royal palace. In his report to the governor he wrote; "it seems that he (Sultan Abdul Rahman II) acted as if he was a sovereign king and he raises his own flag". Based on several records in the Indonesian National Archive, there were some reports that the Sultan then apologized to the governor over the "flag incident".