The call for revival of the sultanate continued throughout the period of autonomous rule under the Riau Council, although the influence of republicanism also continued to strengthen thru the BKRI delegation in the council, which was the opposition. The appeal of revival began to subside following the dissolution of the Bangka Belitung and Riau Federation on 4 April 1950. After the official withdrawal by the Dutch in 1950, the Riau Archipelago became Keresidenan Riau under Central Sumatra Province following official merger by the United States of Indonesia. Being one of the last territories merged into Indonesia, Riau was known as the daerah-daerah pulihan (recovered regions), and the Riau area became a province in August 1957 - the Dewan Riau recreated by then under the Republic as the Riau Provincial People's Representative Council (DPRD-Provinsi Riau), the provincial legistlative assembly, to serve both the islands and the mainland territories. In 2002, the offshore islands of the Riau Archipelago, the territory of the former sultanate, became a separate province, Riau Islands, with its own provincial authorities and legislative, the latter a modern incarnation of the Riau Council.
