The State of East Indonesia was formed in the Great East, the area of the Dutch East Indies that the Dutch were able to reassert control over following the Japanese surrender and the Indonesian declaration of independence in August 1945. From 18–24 December 1946, a conference in Denpasar was held to work out the specifics of the state, including producing a provisional constitution, which included provision for a senate with unspecified powers. The senate was later formed based on the 1948 Provisional Senate Act.