Because his willingness to "empty out all he has to start up schools" had become the model of public service, he enjoyed an incomparable position of leadership in the Southeast Asian Chinese communities. In the following years, the name Tan Kah Kee became the synonym of the Southeast Asian Chinese community's support for the motherland's struggle against the Japanese.
又由於他「傾資興學」已成典範，在南洋僑社中有無可比擬的領袖地位，「陳嘉庚」三個字，就此成為「南洋僑社支援祖國抗日」的代名詞。