[2] Tio's tenure saw the founding of the influential, reformist Confucian organisation Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan in 1900, with which he had an uneasy relationship despite officially extending his mayoral patronage to the group.

[2] In November 1892, for example, Kapitein Tio Tek Ho delivered a well-received talk on Confucian philosophy in 'onberispelijk Nederlandsch' ('flawless Dutch') to one of the Masonic lodges in Batavia, 'de Ster in het Oosten' (the 'Star of the East').

[14] 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.

[2] In July 1896, when Majoor Lie Tjoe Hong resigned, Kapitein Tio Tek Ho became a leading contender to the Chinese Mayoralty thanks to his uncompromising attitude in the land acquisition saga.

[16] By the start of the twentieth century, however, Majoor Tio Tek Ho was considered to be a conservative traditionalist by more progressive community leaders, the so-called jong Chineesche partij (the young Chinese party).

[2][17] 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).

[20] 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.