Tio Tek Ho

Tio Tek Ho, 4th Majoor der Chinezen (; 1857 - 1908) was an ethnic Chinese bureaucrat in the Dutch East Indies who served as the fourth and penultimate Majoor der Chinezen or Chinese headman of Batavia, now Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. This was the most senior position in the Chinese officership, which constituted the Chinese arm of the civil bureaucracy in the Dutch East Indies. He came from a long-established and wealthy family of merchants: both Tio's father Tio Tjeng Soey and grandfather Tio Him were prominent businessmen in the Dutch colonial capital. In addition, he also had other commercial interests, including in rice trading, pawn houses and a cement factory in Angke, called Ned-Ind. Cement-Onderneming Bintang.

This business background differentiated Tio from his three mayoral predecessors, each of whom was a landheer (landlord) and either the son or son-in-law of a Chinese officer.

Tio's uncle, Tio Tjeng Sioe, was married to Lie Loemoet Nio, a first cousin of his mayoral predecessor, Lie Tjoe Hong, the third Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia (1846–1896). Three of Tio's own siblings also married into the Cabang Atas.

Bureaucratic career In February 1886, Tio became the first in his family to be elevated to the Chinese officership with his appointment as a der Chinezen, the most junior rank in the officer hierarchy. In 1890, Tio was further raised to the post of Kapitein der Chinezen of Pasar Baroe and a member of the Chinese Council in succession to his cousin-in-law, Kapitein Loa Tiang Hoei. In 1893, together with Kapitein Loa Tiang Hoei as president, Tio also became the secretary of a new foundation to manage the Kongsie Huis of Pasar Baroe, the district's oldest and most prestigious Chinese temple.

Tio's conduct as a member of the Chinese Council earned him the favour of the Dutch colonial authorities, in particular − according to the historian Mona Lohanda − because of his decision to distance himself from the Council's questionable land acquisitions under Majoor Lie Tjoe Hong. After the ceremony, the new Majoor hosted a reception at his residence in Pasar Baroe, and delivered a speech on good administration and governance. This tension was managed by one of the progressive leaders, Phoa Keng Hek, who tactfully requested Majoor Tio Tek Ho in 1900 to act as the ex-officio Beschermheer (or Patron) of the new modernising organisation Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan (THHK). The organisation sought to purify the practice of Confucianism in the Dutch East Indies, and to provide modern schools for the Chinese community. The executive board of THHK had earlier discovered some financial chicanery on the part of Nie Liang Soei, the Majoor's righthand man and Second Secretary of the Chinese Council. He was succeeded eventually in 1910 by the son-in-law of the progressive Phoa Keng Hek, Khouw Kim An, the fifth and last Majoor der Chinezen of Batavia.