After arriving on the Gold Coast on 8 February 1822, he relieved interim commander Friedrich Last of his duties.
In June 1830, he was made president of the orphans' court in Semarang, after having previously served as head commissioner of police in Batavia.
[10][11] In 1837, Temminck was indicted for "theft of the nation's wealth" (Dutch: landsdieverij) by the procurator fiscal at the Council of Justice in Semarang.
He was sentenced to a high fine and banishment from the Dutch East Indies on 2 June 1837.
[12][13] Temminck only had to serve part of his prison sentence and requested king William II of the Netherlands on 20 April 1841 to "remove the stain of infamy" from his record.