To Malaysian Chinese, Sim Mow-yu is the personification of the long, winding path their community has walked. He has always encouraged his compatriots to be upstanding Malaysian citizens, and has been a pioneer defending Chinese education in the country, a "Confucian activist."
對馬來西亞華人而言，沈慕羽的一生就是馬來西亞華人社會曲折發展的縮影，一方面他鼓勵同胞「做個堂堂正正的馬來西亞公民」；另一方面他又是捍衛華文教育的先驅，也是「儒之行者」形象的代表。