[7][1] His father, uncles and grandfather held the honorary rank of Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen, proper to Chinese officials in the civil bureaucracy of colonial Indonesia, but without any of the substantive responsibilities.

[9] Khouw's family was one of the wealthiest dynasties of the Cabang Atas, or the Chinese gentry (baba bangsawan), of colonial Indonesia.

[3][7] In 1883, at the age of 23, Khouw was appointed by the colonial government as a substantive Luitenant der Chinezen with a seat on the Chinese Council of Batavia.

[10][11] Khouw served in office during the tenure of Majoor Lie Tjoe Hong, the third mayoral head of the Chinese community of Batavia.

"[13] Baden-Powell also had the opportunity to meet the Kapitein's wife, "looking very glum, in a dress rather suggestive of nocturnal attire, but resplendent with diamonds...."[13] Another English writer, Arnold Wright, refers in his Twentieth Century Impressions of Netherlands India to Khouw's Chinese Captaincy and membership in the Chinese Council, and to his family's influence in Batavia.