P.L. Dronkers, born 19 August 1917, completed his education in Leiden in September 1941 and became Dutch colonial government administrator (Indisch bestuursambtenaar) and in July 1945 he was one of the first members of the contingent of Dutch colonial administrators to be sent out from The Netherlands to the Netherlands-Indies, at that time still occupied [by the Japanese]. Via Australia and a temporary assignment in Batavia with the Netherlands Government Information Service (Regerings Voorlichtingsdienst, RVD), in the first months of 1946, he was granted a post with the landing forces, which were to bring Bali back under regular [Dutch colonial] administration. Initially, Internal Affairs Administration was militarised with the name Allied Military Administration, Civil Affairs Branch (AMACAB), something which was undone in the course of 1946. In 1947, civil administrators were added to the local self-government as civil advisors (bestuursadviseurs). Mid 1948, these administration advisors were put together at the office of the Balinese 'Rajadom Council' (vorstenraad) Dewan Radja-Radja in Den Pasar. The reason for this was, also at local level, to melt into changed political relations within the Negara Indonesia Timur, to which daerah Bali belonged. The transfer of sovereignty in December 1949 formally ended the interference of Dutch [colonial] Civil Administration with local administration.
Dronkers held the following positions in Bali:
junior controller (aspirant-controleur) in Boeleleng and Djembrana, March-May 1946; junior-controller in Djembrana, May-December 1946; controller/administration advisor in Tabanan, January 1947 - June 1948; head of the Political Affairs Department with the Dewan Radja-Radja in Den Pasar, June 1948 - March 1949; head of the Economic Affairs Department with the Dewan Radja-Radja in Den Pasar, June 1949 - April 1950. April 1950, Dronkers together with his family repatriated to the Netherlands.
In the course of his administrative duties he made some 7,000 photographs of Balinese cultural life.
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