HlaMin

Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)

  • Pen Names & Nicknames

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Pen Names

    • Maung Ngwe Hlinne မောင်ငွေလှိုင်း — Saya U Thet Lwin (Registrar)
    U Thet Lwin
    • Tekaktho Moe War တက္ကသိုလ်မိုးဝါ — Saya U Moe Aung (EE63)
    U Moe Aung
    • Kogyi Kaung ကိုကြီးကောင်း — Saya Dr. Koung Nyunt (A67, GBNF)
    Dr. Koung Nyunt
    • Hlaing Phyo လှိုင်ဖြိုး / Lifelong Learner — U Hla Min (EC69)
    Hla Min
    • Yin Maung ရင်မောင် — Saya Dr. Taing Oke (ChE69)
    Taing Oke
    • Chi Hte Nu Nu Kyaw ခြည်ထည်နုနုကျော် — U Kyaw Htin (T69)
    • Mon Yu မွန် ယု — U Tin Htut (Harry, M69)
    • Maung Hmut မောင်မှတ် — U Khin Maung Aye (M69)
    • Maung Aw မောင်ဩ — Saya U Aung (C70)
    • Maubin Ma Shwe Than မအူပင်မရွှေသန်း — Daw Than Yi (EP70)
    • Ma Sandar မစန္ဒာ — Daw Cho Cho Tin (A71)
    • Zinyawgyi ဇင်ယော်ကြီး — U Zaw Win (Min71)
    • Okkpo Maung Yin Maung အုတ်ဖိုမောင်ရင်မောင် — Saya U Aung Myaing (ChE72)
    • Ba Thein (Atlanta) ဘသိန်း — Dr. Myint Thein (M73)
    • Maung Nyunt Htay (Ah Htet Min Hla) မောင်ညွန့်ဌေး အထက်မင်းလှ — Saya U Nyunt Htay (Met73)
    • Ko Toe Hmit Che ကိုတိုး မြစ်ခြေ— U Toe Aung (C73)
    • Maung Yit မောင်ရစ် — U Maung Maung Win (EC93)

    Nick Names

    U Seit To and Myauk Nyo ဦးစိတ်တို နဲ့ မျောက်ညို

    • Cartoon characters
    • According to Saya U Tin Myint (M80), the nicknames were given to two sayas by G-Hall Thu

    Myauk Phyu မျောက်ဖြူ

    • White monkey

    Ah Yan Kan အရမ်းကန်

    • Random kicking footballer

    Bo Daw ဘိုးတော်

    • Could be sarcastic

    Saya Maung ဆရာမောင်

    • Given by a girl to her teacher/boy friend

    Tar Tay Gyi တာတေကြီး

    • Reference to an actor for scary movies

    Dauk Soe ဒေါက်စိုး

    • Dr. Soe Myint Win (GNBF) was called Dauk Soe by some students

    Nyi Nyi & Pho Nyi ညီညီ နဲ့ ဖိုးညီ

    • Nyi Nyi may be used in a name
      e.g. Dr. Nyi Nyi
    • Nyi Nyi & Pho Nyi are used as nicknames, e.g. Than Htut (M67, RUBC Gold)

    Sonny ဆန်နီ

    • May be used in a name, e.g. Sonny Yone Sein
    • May also be used as a nickname, e.g. “Sonny” Aung Myint, “Sonny” Soe Naing

    Lake or Leit လိပ်

    U Win Maung (EE69er) represented RIT in Rowing, Swimming and Water Polo. He is a Back Stroke specialist. He swam the 2000 meters Cross-Lake with Back Stroke. He is known as “Lake” or “Leit” (Tortoise in reference to his Back Stroke swimming). U Htay Aung (M69, Burma Selected) and several others using Front Crawl finish quite ahead of Leit. Before graduation, he went to UK for license & training in air craft maintenance. He joined UBA/BAC. He is now an entrepreneur doing family business.

    Khwet ခွက်

    U Sein Myint (K K Wong, EP69) represented RIT in Rowing, Swimming & Water Polo. Someone transformed his name “Kwet” into “Khwet”. He is a major donor of the 69er Health Care Fund and the EE69er HCF. After retirement, he spends time in Singapore, Yangon and California.

    Htaw Kyin ထော်ကြင်

    U Htin Kyaw (Peter Wun, MEHS63) worked for the Institute of Economics and UCC before joining HIC and FERD. He was called “Htaw Kyin”. Some British could not pronounce his name. They called him “Ha Htin Coil”.

    Kyein ကြိမ်း

    U Kyaw Nyein (GBNF) taught Numerical Methods & Numerical Analysis at UCC. He played soccer and volley ball. He was fondly called “Kyein”.

    Bo Shoke ဗိုလ်ရှုပ်

    U Mya Thein (GBNF) taught at the Institute of Economics, UCC and ITMBU. He was originally called “Bogyoke” and later became known as “Bo Shoke”.

    Ah Thay Lay အသေးလေး

    U Thein Oo taught at the Institute of Economics and UCC. His friends called him “Ah Thay Lay”. He was good at volleyball, table tennis and cards.

    Ah Pho Gyi အဖိုးကြီး

    • Tin Maung Thant (son of UNSG U Thant) was called Ah Pho Gyee by his PPBRS classmates
    • U Han Sein (C69, GBNF)

    Shwee ရွှီး

    U Kyaw Zan Hein (C69, GBNF) was admitted to the 2nd BE in 1964 as Roll Number 14. There were no word processors in those days; only the use of cyclostyle (Gestener). So, when the person who was admitted as Roll Number 14 did not join RIT, the Admin Office typed in Shwee’s name instead. Some would call him Kyaw Zan Shwee.

    Ngu Yin Kong Kee

    ငုယင်ကောင်ကီး

    • Burmanized name of a Vietnamese General
    • Saya U Win Kyaing (GBNF) is uncle of Maurice Chee (M75). He is often called Ngu Yin Kong Kee. He was also known as Wah Kyaing, younger brother of Wah Kyu.

    Hna Khan Hmwe နှုတ်ခမ်းမွှေး

    • Some have notable mustache
    • One such person was Ko Khin Nyo, “Kyaung Tha Thadin Htauk (Student Reporter at RIT)”. According to Ko Zaw Min Nawaday (EP70), he met — several decades later — Ko Khin Nyi without mustache in New York, USA

    Pauk Si ပေါက်စီ

    U Hla Min (L T Gwan, SPHS64, EP70, GBNF) joined UCC as Chief Operator. He was called CO by his colleagues and “Pauk Si” by his close friends. His father loaned money to a Pauk Si vendor, who did not pay back the loan. At break time at SPHS, he would get Pauk Si from the vendor.

    Pauk Pauk ပေါက်ပေါက်

    Daw Aye Aye Than (ChE72) is the sister of Sayama Dr. Hla Hla Sein (Maths) and Ma Myint Myint Sein (Diana, M70). Her friends called her Pauk Pauk.

    Bu ဘူး

    U Myint Maung (EP69) is one of the young 69ers and one of the few Eligible Bachelors. He represented RIT EE Department in Volleyball along with Saw Edison, U Aye Thein & U Maung Maung. He was called “Bu” in reference to “Minbu” (his home town).

    Shastri ရှပ်စတြီ

    U Khin Maung Myint (C69, GBNF) was called Shastri (former Prime Minister of India).

    Ohn Thee အုန်းသီး

    U Ohn Thwin (PPFC, GBNF) attended classes at UCC & BARB. He was called “Ohn Thee” (Coconut) by his friends.

    May Pa Le မေပုလဲ

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ee-association-1.jpg
    Daw Yee Yee Aung
    • “မေပုလဲ” is a two-handed compliment given to selected female RIT students. e.g. Daw Yee Yee Aung (EP67, EC member of RIT EE Association)
    • It means Miss Pearl (a belle who is Pearly White).
    • It’s concoction “Mae Pa Le မဲပလေ” means “Wow. So dark [complexion]”.

    Rocket ရော့ကက် ဒုံးပျံ

    U Ko Gyi was a Lecturing Tutor in Maths. He is known for reciting the first 100 digits of PI (a constant which is 3.14159265 …). He used Rocket as an example in his classes. For some reason, he named Tin Tin Myint (Emma, ChE70) as “Rocket”. Classmates who witnessed the naming might provide details.

    Emma is co-founder of Triple Gems Publication. She is also co-founder of Dana Sri Lanka (DSL). She is called Mae Daw Gyi မယ်တော်ကြီး by the young monks studying in Sri Lanka.

    La La လာ လား

    It is a form of “Kala” or “Kular” (Person of dark color).

    Some young dark skinned kids (e.g. Aye Win Hlaing (Abel, EE72)) are given the nickname “La La”.

    Ajala အာဂျလာ

    He was a Nigerian student who led demonstrations in front of the US Embassy in Rangoon (in our younger days).

    U Moe Hein (ChE69) represented RIT in swimming & water polo. He has a loud voice (which is very helpful in supporting RIT athletes in the Inter-Institute Tournaments). He is called Ajala by his close friends.

    Maung Kabar မောင်ကမ္ဘာ

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is kabar-1.jpg
    Obituary of Kabar Myint Thein
    • Maung Kabar was an adorable Cartoon character.
    • Those who have slightly round faces are called “Maung Kabar” or “Kabar”.
    • Saya U Myint Soe (SPHS64, C68, GBNF) was named “Maung Kabar”.
    • U Myint Thein (M69) is also known as “Maung Kabar”. It appeared in the Obituary.

    Bagyi Aung ဘကြီးအောင်

    • Fictional character from Min Thu Wun’s short story.
    • U Hla Aung (EP68) wrote : May I share our time nick names. May Pa Le is Yee Yee Aung (EP67). Her friend is Nancy Hla Aung. My nick name is Ba Gyi Aung.

    Three Sizes

    • In Mechanical Drawing, we learned about scales.
    • One student gave the nicknames “Half size, Full size and Double size” to three female students.
    • Sayama Daw Mya Mya Than (EP68, GBNF) was “Full size”. Daw Nyunt Nyunt Zaw (T68, GBNF) was “Double Size”. Daw Cho (?) was “ Half Size”.

    Sargalay & Lada စာကလေး နဲ့ လဒ

    • Sargalay is a sparrow. Lada is a vulture.
    • U Khin Maung Win (EP69, GBNF) was the training partner for Sai Kham Pan (EP69, Burma Selected in Badminton). Kham Pan would give him 10 – 12 points bonus to play a 15-point game.
    • At a reunion, Daw Saw Yu Tint addressed Khin Maung Win as Sargalay. He replied, “I am now a Lada”. He gained a lot of height from 2nd BE to Final Year.
    • The nickname allows 69ers to differentiate Khin Maung Wins — Sargalay, Roland Thein, Donald Ba Pe and ChE Kyet.
    • Most 69ers might remember the cartoon by Kyant Ba Hone Aung Myint (Pet69).
      “Ah Ba. Kar Ku La Thin Char (Calculus) is very fascinating.
      If we differentiate a Lada, we get a Sargalay. If we integrate a Sargalay, we get a Lada.”

    Kywei Gyi ကျွဲကြီး

    • Kywei Gyi is a big, strong Buffalo.
    • U Khin Maung Lay (Henry, T68) was Secretary of RIT Track & Field Association. He competed in 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m relay and Long Jump (emulating Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics). He represented RIT in Track & Field, Soccer and Rowing. He is called “Kywei Gyi” for his physical prowess. His elder brother Ko Khin Maung Latt (M63) represented the Faculty of Engineering in Rowing.

    Mu Tu မူတူး

    U Khin Maung Lay (M70) represented RIT in soccer. He was emcee (Master of Ceremonies) at the Reunion & Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe of the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65. He was a member of the Myanmar Human Rights Commission. He is the son of U Khin Maung Latt (AFPFL Minister) and younger brother of Saya U Khin Maung Gyi (English, GBNF).

    Phone Gyi ဘုန်းကြီး

    Several alumni are called “Phone Gyi” (Monk) by their friends.

    • U Tin Tun (SPHS63, M69) was my classmate since Std. IV(D) at SPHS. His mother Daw Tin Tin would come and feed him at lunch break. He studied and taught Marine Engineering.
    Tin Htoon
    • U Tin Shein (M69) and I were classmates at the 2nd BE English class of Saya Des. He gave a talk on Chinlon. He represented RIT in Chinlon.
    • U Soe Myint (M72, GBNF) volunteered as a Kappiya at the Kaba Aye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung. He helped with the maintenance. He retired as Pro-Rector of ICST.
    Soe Myint (3rd from Right)

    Chauk Pay ခြောက်ပေ

    • Some tall students are called Chauk Pay (Six Footer).
    • U Htein Win (Richard, M70) represented RIT in Rowing, Swimming & Water Polo. He tended the goal at the Shallow End. He moved to Canada. He bought tickets for SPZP-2000, but could not attend due to a strike.

    Ja Bu & Shorty ဂျပု နဲ့ ရှော်တီ

    • Some short students are called Ja Bu (Midget) or Shorty.
    • U Myint Sein (M70, GBNF) represented RIT in Soccer.
    • There were two Bohmus named “Shorty” Tin Myint.

    Japan Gyi ဂျပန်ကြီး

    • Some who were born during the Japanese Occupation were given Japan Gyi as their nick name.
    • U Hla Tun (T69, GBNF) would end most sentences with an expletive. He married Dolly Gale (my primary school classmate).

    Cowboy ကောင်းဘွိုင်

    • U Tin Nwe (C69, GBNF) was a jovial person and was called Cowboy by his friends.
    • Three Paulians — Tin Nwe, Min Thaw (Gilbert) & Maung Maung Aye — were involved in a car accident after an OPA dinner gathering, but they were not hurt seriously. Sadly, they are now all GBNF.

    Duwa ဒူးဝါး

    • It is a title for a Kachin Leader.
    • U Zau Lai (EP69) spends time in Myitkyina & Yangon. He is an entrepreneur & a Kachin Leader. He often drove a long way from Myitkyina to attend the 69er gatherings.
    Zau Lai

    Bei Oo ဘဲဥ

    • It is a “Duck Egg”. It may also stand for “Zero”.
    • Daw Kyi Kyi Sein (T70) represented RIT in Badminton & Hiking. She is an organizer for the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65.
    Kyi Kyi Sein (Seated 3rd from Left)

    Kyet Taw ကြက်တော

    I know some people named Kyet Taw. They may have “Taw” in their names.

    • Harry Taw (MEHS57) was a friend of my older brother.
    • Dr. Nyan Taw (Dicky, SPHS63) was my neighbor for some time. We jogged, biked and rowed. He worked at RASU, Pearl & Fishery before moving overseas for assignments. He invited me to the wedding receptions of his younger son and daughter.
    • U Khin Maung Lwin is an organizer for the Class of 87 & 91. RIT was closed for three years. He organized the Golf Tournament for the alumni. He served as Secretary of the Swel Daw Yeik Foundation.

    Saya San ဆရာစံ

    • He is a revolutionary figure in the history of Burma.
    • U Maung San studied his Masters in the UK. He often shopped in the “Junior” section. He taught Geology at RIT & Assumption University.
    • I met U Aung Than (Saya San) at a meeting for the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65. He told me that he had to study for the last ever 7th Standard Government examination.

    Gaing Gyi ဂိုင်ကြီး

    • The Burmese sometimes pronounce “Kyaw” as “Gyaw”; “Kyee” as “Gyee” and “Khine” as “Gaing”.
    • U Ohn Khine (M70) was named Ohn Gaing at St. Peter’s High School in Mandalay. He was called “Gaing Gyi” by some friends. He is the founder and moderator of the Google Group for the intake of 64 and 65. He volunteered for SPZP-2012, Shwe YaDu, SPZP-2016, SDYF, HMEE-2012 and HMEE-2016. He translated Section 1 and summarized Section 2 of the HMEE-2012 book. He and I compiled the CD supplement for the HMEE-2012 book.
    Ohn Khine

    Byte and R ဗိုက် နဲ့ အာ

    • Byte may mean stomach or belly. R may mean “talkative”.
    • U Tin Hlaing (M63) was called “Byte Tin Hlaing” and “R Tin Hlaing” by his friends to differentiate from the senior Saya U Tin Hlaing (M59, GBNF). He was later known as Dr. Tin Hlaing.
    • U Kyaw Zin (EP69) was called “R Zin” by some of his friends.
    • U Myint Soe (UCC) worked as Maintenance Technician in the Systems Division. He was called “Byte”.

    Shwe Gaung Byaung ရွှေဂေါင်းပြောင်

    It is the name of a cartoon character. It literally means “Golden, Bald Head”. Toe Nyunt (Ted Mya Maung) starred in a movie of that name.

    U Wynn Htain Oo (M72) is a super fund raiser is fondly known as “Shwe Gaung Byaung”. He is also known as

    • WHO (not World Health Organization)
    • Hmaw Sayagyi မှော်ဆြာကြီး
    • Mg Mar Ga မောင်မာဃ
    • Bo Pu Cho ဗိုလ်ပုချို
    Mg Mar Ga

    Sa Yay စာရေး

    • Sa Yay may mean a Clerk.
    • Sa Yay Gyi စာရေးကြီး is a Senior Clerk.
    • Sa Yay Lay စာရေးလေး is a Junior Clerk.
    • U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76) was called “Sa Yay Lay” by his teacher Perrera (V Standard in St. Paul’s High School).
    • In primary school, my spouse was told by her teacher that her hand writing looked like that of a “Sa Yay”. It motivated her to become a medical doctor.

    Hanuman ဟာနုမန်

    • It is an Indian Diety.
    • U Han Tun Maung (GBNF) was a star athlete at SPHS. He excelled in Track & Field, and Soccer. He was called “Hanuman”. He was President of Old Paulians Association, Kokkine Swimming Club, Equestrian & Archery Associations. His family owned a Stable with “Sein Hlyan” as a Champion horse. The family opened Sein Hlyan Cafe. The Intake of 65 meets monthly as the Cafe.

    Mote Seit မုတ်ဆိတ်

    • It may mean “Beard”.
    • U Myo Hein (69er) is called Mote Seit by his friends.
    • Reverend Frederich Ludwig (Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia &!Lithuania) was called “Moke Seit Phone Gyi”. He later shaved his beard and ordained as a Theravada monk with the title Ashin Ananda. He is a Laureate Poet.

    Papu ပါပူး

    • Collegian Nay Win was called Papu by soccer team mates.

    Po Htaung & Po Maung ဖိုးထောင် နဲ့ ဖိုးမောင်

    • Sons of U Khin Maung San (Tommy San, PBRS, GBNF)
    • U Nyunt Win (classmate of Tommy’s wife Lily at Darjeeling) liked the nicknames and used them in a movie.

    Gyi ကြီး

    • Japan Gyi ဂျပန်ကြီး — Hla Tun (T69)
    • Kyaw Gyi ကျော်ကြီး — Kyi Win (EP69)
    • Maw Gyi မော်ကြီး — U Myat Htoo (C68)

    Not so nice

    • Phaung Gyi Sin ဖေါင်ကြီးဆင်း
    • Ba Lar Gyi ဗလာကြီး
    • Chota ချိုတား၊ ချွတ်တား
    • Mutta မွတ်တား
    • Fatty ဖက်တီး
    • Chee Pay

    EE69ers

    • U Thein Swe (EP69) described nicknames of the EE69ers in his post.
    • Example : So Si စိုစိ

    RIT English Sayas & Sayamas

    • Saya Des described some nicknames in his article.
    • Examples : Byaing Ma ဗျိုင်းမ Ya Khine Gyi ရခိုင်ကြီး

  • Dana in Nov 2021

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Dana for Saya Dr. Chit Swe

    • 2 year Memorial for Saya Dr. Chit Swe at Sydney Australia & Elar, Pyinmana
      by Daw Khin Khin Latt, Dr. Moe Thu & U Nay La, U Thu Ta & Daw War War Aung, Dr. Kyaw Thu & Khin Su Hlaings,
      Dr. Swe Latt & Daw Phyo Phyo Aung, U Chit Khin & Mrs. Lin Tranh
    Memorial Soon Kyway

    Dana for Saya U Aung Zaw

    Yet Le (7 day) Memorial

    • by Daw Nan Kyawt (Tint Tint Wai), Daw San Tint Tint Zaw & family, U Ant Bwe Zaw, U Nyan Htet Zaw & family
    • by U Zaw Tun & friends (Singapore)
    • by Daw Pyone Yee & Family (Myanmar)

    Donations in Thanatpin, Myanmar

    • In memory of Saya Zaw by Daw Nan Kyawt & Family, U Tun Aung Gyaw & Family, U Myint Lwin & Family
    • Lights for a zedi & neighborhood in Thanatpin for Two Nights
    • Drinking Water for the residents for Two Days
    • Ah Hlu for residents and visitors from neighboring villages
    AZ 1
    AZ 2

    Donation by ex-UCC to Foundation (supported by Saya Zaw & Family)

    • Saya U Soe Paing
    • Saya Dr. Maung Maung Htay
    • U Soe Myint
    • U Sein Myint
    • Daw Kyin Kyin Htay
    • Daw San Yu Hlaing
    • Daw Swe Swe Than
    • U Win Pe
    • U Nyunt Than
    • U Aung Zaw Maung
    • …

    Memorial for C73 GBNF

    • U Kyaw Lin (Organizer of Civil Engineering Gatherings)
    • Other GBNF from C73

  • NJ Gathering in Aug 2017

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Ivan Lee (Khin Maung Oo, M69) had hosted IT and UCC mini-gathering in New Jersey for a decade or so.

    The timing was chosen so that Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi (Canada) and Saya U Soe Paing (EE, UCC) could participate.

    The group photo was taken at the gathering on August 19, 2017.

    New Jersey (2017)

  • UCC Sayas

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Saya Dr. Chit Swe (GBNF)

    Saya Chit in 2006
    • He founded UCC with the help of U Soe Paing, U Myo Min and U Ko Ko Lay (GBNF).
    U Soe Paing
    • U Soe Paing, was my mentor at RIT and UCC. He contributed news and articles to “RIT Alumni International Newsletter”. He also wrote the draft for the HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education) book.
    U Myo Min
    • U Myo Min was working as Systems Analyst for IBM in UK when Saya Dr. Chit Swe requested him (via Saya Myo’s mother) to help co-found UCC (the first Computer Institution in Burma).
    U Ko Ko Lay
    • U Ko Ko Lay (GBNF) served as Operations Manager and Scientific Applications Manager at UCC, Professor at the Department of Computer Science and at the Institute of Computer Science and Technology.

    Still So Young And Passionate: Saya Chit (Dr. Chit Swe)

    Even in his late 80’s, Saya had an active mind and a burning desire to payback to Myanmar.

    He supervised Burmese students in Australia with their research and theses.

    He studied Mathematics at Mandalay University. His contemporaries include Dr. Maung Di and U Khin Maung Tint (Tekkatho Phone Naing).

    He did graduate studies at Imperial College (University of London) , Glasgow University and the University of Liverpool in the UK.

    During his studies at Imperial College, Saya U Ba Than (Retired Professor of Mechanical Engineering, RIT, GBNF) was his room mate.

    Saya was Head of Mathematics Department at the Institute of Economics when he proposed to the Ministry of Education to acquire a computer for research and teaching. Dr. Nyi Nyi requested saya to extend the scope of his proposal to cover selected universities and institutes. The UCC project was born.

    It would take several years before UNDP would approve to fund the UCC project. UNESCO would act as the Executing Agency.

    Mandalay Hall

    Dr. Chit Swe succeeded U Ba Toke as Professor of Mathematics Department at RASU. He recruited volunteers to help plan for the implementation of UCC. He received permission to use Mandalay Hall as the temporary home for UCC.

    Sayas — Dr. Chit Swe, U Soe Paing, U Myo Min, U Ko Ko Lay and several others — conducted courses on Computer Fundamentals & Programming, Systems Analysis and Design, and Numerical Methods.

    Thamaing College Campus

    UCC moved over to Thamaing College Campus as a neighbor to RC2 (Regional College Two). Dr. Chit Swe became the Founder and Director of UCC. U Soe Paing, U Myo Min and U Ko Ko Lay became Managers in charge of Systems Division, Applications Division, and Operations Division.

    After reorganization, Applications Division was split into Business Applications Division and Scientific Applications Division.

    Saya’s Vision

    Saya was a pioneer and an advocate of “Technology Transfer”, “Leapfrogging Technology”, “Knowledge Sharing”, and TOSS (Team of System Specialists).

    Saya is modest. During a trip to Chauk Htat Yone (Six Storey Office), the admin would “ignore” him and would pay respect to Ko Myint Oo (his student and volunteer assistant), who was well dressed and was carrying a suitcase.

    Saya insisted a Component in the UCC Project Plan to invite the elite Computer Scientists and Practitioners including

    (a) two Past Presidents of the prestigious ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) : Professor Harry Huskey (UCSC) and Professor Anthony Ralston (SUNY Buffalo),

    (b) a future ACM Turing Award Winner (considered as the Nobel Prize for Computing) : Professor Michael Stonebraker (UCB) to UCC and jump start courses in Computer Science and Applications.

    Misconception

    Saya thought that I had served as an Editor for a newspaper. I had written articles, poems and translations for Guardian, WPD (Working People’s Daily) newspapers and Forward Magazine.

    Upon learning that I was an RIT graduate volunteering for the UCC Project Maung Thaw Ka (Bohmu Ba Thaw, Chief Editor of Forward Magazine, GBNF) suggested that I should join his staff.

    In my 3rd BE, editors from NAB (News Agency Burma) headed by Tet Toe (U Ohn Pe, Chief Editor) invited me to join their staff.

    My parents supported my hobbies, but they wanted to make sure that I have a good education and a decent job.

    I became a writer for Saya’s projects:

    • High School Mathematics Curriculum Development
    • Children’s Treasury of Knowledge (CTK)
    • Planning for computerization of Government Departments
    • Team of System Specialists (TOSS).

    Saya believed in me and gave the opportunity to take challenges.

    Life After UCC

    After UCC, Saya served as Rector of RASU, but his passion for his “Dream Child” and his care for his former students never diminished.

    After retirement, Saya taught at Assumption University — formerly known as ABAC (Assumption Business and Accounting College) — in Bangkok, Thailand.

    Saya later relocated to Sydney, Australia and served as Visiting Professor of Macquarie University. Several Burmese completed their doctorates under his supervision.

    Reunion With Saya In Australia

    In June 2006, I visited Sydney, Australia to attend several gatherings:

    • RIT alumni gathering headed by Saya U Hla Myint (Charlie, M65) and Saya U Myo Win (Melvin, M65, GBNF)
    • UCC alumni gathering at Saya U Aung Zaw’s house where we paid homage to Saya Dr. Chit Swe and Saya Dr. Freddie Ba Hli (National Planning Adviser & Board Member of UCC)
    • Old Paulians gathering at Olympic Park organized by Dr. Thann Naing (Bonnie Kywe, SPHS66, Geology70)

    Saya’s Present

    Saya asked me to give a lecture or seminar to interested young people in Sydney. He then presented me with his hat. I hope that Saya’s hat can “transfer” his brilliant thinking into my head.

    Visits

    In the past years, Saya visited Singapore and Myanmar and shared his wisdom, knowledge and experience.

    He has minor health problems, but his mind is sharp as ever.

    Saya Dr. Tin Maung (GBNF)

    Dr. Tin Maung
    • He is the son of Saya Kar, who served as Minister of Education in the Caretaker Government. Saya joined the Department of Mathematics as Tutor. He went for further studies in UK. Upon his return, he was promoted to Lecturer.
    • He succeeded Saya Dr. Chit Swe as Director of UCC. During his tenure, DCS (Department of Computer Science) was established with U Ko Ko Lay as Professor and U Tun Aung Gyaw as Associate Professor.
    • In 1987, ICST (Institute of Computer Science and Technology) with Saya as Rector. There were four Departments : (a) Hardware Technology (b) Software Technology (c) Information Systems (d) Computational Mathematics. U Ko Ko Lay was Professor of Information Systems. U Tun Aung Gyaw was Associate Professor for Hardware Technology. I was Associative Professor of Software Technology. Bachelor degree courses in Computer Science (CS) and Computer Technology (CT) were given. In the first batch, there were 30 CS and 15 CT students.
    • Saya Dr. Tin Maung continued to implement the Vision and Mission set by the UCC Founders, and managed to go further.
    • He did not live long enough to see 26 batches (from ICST and UCSY) host the 5th Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe on January 14, 2018. San Yin Myint (Samanta, cousin of Ko Maurice Chee) and her friends posted a “Live” Facebook session of the Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe. Dr. Kyaw Thein (GBNF), Dr. Maung Maung Htay, U Myint Swe, Daw Nwe Nwe Win (Judy) and I gave short speeches at the Pu Zaw Pwe.

    Saya U Ko Ko Lay (GBNF)

    • He matriculated from SPHS in 1956 along with Saya U Soe Paing), U Win Htein (GBNF), Bohmu Percy Maung Maung (GBNF), Saya U Ba Min and U Than Se (Richard, ChE62).
    • He is the elder brother of U Than Htut (M67, RUBC Gold), Maw (BDS) and Zaw (RUBC Gold, GBNF).
    • He studied BSCE and MSCE at Stanford University in the US.
    • He joined PWD as Assistant Engineer.
    • He was recruited by his friend U Soe Paing to help with the UCC Project in general and the design and implementation of UCC Building in particular.
    • He transferred to UCC as Operations Division Manager.
    • He served as Scientific Applications Division Manager.
    • He received Masters in Systems Engineering from the University of Lancaster, UK.
    • Professor at the Department of Computer Science (DCS)
    • Professor of Information Systems (IS) at the Institute of Computer Science and Technology (ICST)
    • He enjoyed playing tennis, soccer and volleyball.
    • He has an excellent command of English
    • He passed away in the early 1990s.

    Dr. San Tint (GBNF) and U Shein Soe Myint (GBNF)

    Dr. San Tint (EE61) was my saya at RIT. He served as External Examiner for Computer Science students at UCC and DCS.

    U Shein Soe Myint (EC83) is a classmate of U Thaung Tin (KMD, former Minister) and my cousin nephew U Thar Hlaing. He joined UCC, DCS and ICST as a graduate student, engineer and later saya. He was studying for his doctorate at NUS when he unexpectedly passed away.

    The picture was taken at a mini-reunion of RIT & UCC alumni during my visit to Singapore.

    DST and SSM
    Standing : Dr. San Tint (3rd from left), U Shein Soe Myint (5th from left)

    Dr. Freddie Ba Hli (GBNF)

    He received Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). At MIT, Saya helped “fresh” scholars including Saya Dr. Aung Gyi and Saya U Min Wun acclimatize with the environment and studies.

    He served as DG (Director General) of UBARI (Union of Burma Applied Research Institute) and Advisor for the Ministry of National Planning. He was a supporter of UCC Project and served as a member of the Board of Directors and as an External Examiner for the Computer Science graduates.

    Daw Myint Thwe (Saya’s spouse) is the sister of Saya U Tin U (C), Saya U Ba Than (M, GBND), Dr. Daw Win Hlaing, Dr Myo Tint (GBNF), U Tin Htoon (A60), Saya U Myo Min (UCC), U Thaung Lwin (EC66) and Daw Cho Cho Hlaing.

    Saya’s children — Ma Tin Tin Hlaing and Ko Tha Hlaing (EC83) — are UCC alumni.

    During my visit to Sydney (Australia) in 2006, Saya U Aung Zaw hosted a UCC reunion and mini-PZP (Pu Zaw Pwe) for Saya Dr. F Ba Hli and Saya Dr. Chit Swe. Saya Chit gave me his hat. Ko Tha Hlaing gave me a book “This is Sydney”.

    Ko Htay Aung (Victor, EC80) is a nephew of Saya U Sein Hlaing. He is the spouse of Ma Tin Tin Hlaing (Saya FBH’s daughter). Ko Htay Aung and team “programmed” a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) to print Burmese characters on the Cromemco System Three micro-computer. He worked on Burmese Word Processing for Wang Computers. He migrated to Australia. For the past few years, he came back to Yangon to volunteer as an interpreter for the “10-day Mediation Retreat for Foreign Yogis” at the Mahasi Sasana Yeik Tha.

    Robert Win Boh (EC69) wrote :

    • I used to visit Dr FBH & his dear wife (RIT Saya U Ba Than’s sister) who are Ma TTH’s parents – to pay homage regularly before Saya Dr FBH passed away.
    • Saya was fond of my present bought for them from Canberra Return Trip with Ko Aye Win Hlaing (EE) and Ma Phyu Phyu Latt (A71). It is a small woolen blanket hand woven by aged people and sold for charity at the Mid Way Market from Canberra.
    • Saya always put the blanket on his lap when he watched TV news.

  • Holidays and Events

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Some holidays

    • have fixed date
    • have relative dates
    • are designated as Public holidays
    • are religious

    January

    • Jan 1 : New Year’s Day
    • Jan 4 : Independence Day in Myanmar
    • Martin Luther King’s Day in US
    • Occasionally : Lunar New Year

    February

    • Feb 12 : Union Day
    • Feb 13 : Children’s Day (Bogyoke Aung San’s birthday)
    • Feb 14 : Valentine’s Day
    • US Presidents’ Day
    • Occasionally : Lunar New Year
    • Occasionally : Full Moon Day of Tabodwe — Htamane Pwe & [Buddha’s] Exhortation Day

    March

    • Mar 2 : Peasant’s Day was moved from Jan 1 in order to celebrate the Coup D’eat
    • Phone Maw Day
    • Burma’s Human Rights Day (celebrated by Berkeley)
    • Mar 27 : Resistance Day was renamed as Armed Forces Day
    • First Day of Spring : Persian New Year

    April

    • Thingyan : Three or four days of Water Festival
    • Myanmar New Year

    May

    • May 1 : May Day in some countries
    • May 5 : Cinco de Mayo
    • Mother’s Day in the US

    June

    • Jun 6 : D Day
    • Jun 6 : Ah Loke Thamar Ah Yay Ah Khinn
    • Father’s Day in the US

    July

    • Jul 4 : Independence Day in the US
    • Jul 7 : Students’ protest that was brutally crushed
    • Jul 8 : Demolition of the Rangoon University Student’s Union
    • Jul 19 : Arzani Nay
    • Apollo 11 landed in Tranquility Bay on the Moon in July 1969
    • My poem “Men on the Moon” was sent to NASA via USIS. A copy was published in the Guardian.

    August

    • 8-8-88 : start of a long struggle to restore Democracy in Myanmar
    • Several birthdays in my extended family

    September

    • Crushing the hopes of Multi-party Democracy
    • Occasionally : End of Burmese Buddhist Lent

    October

    • Occasionally : End of Burmese Buddhist Lent (Thadinkyut)
    • “Deepavali” or “Diwali” celebrations are also celebrated around October. It is known as the “Festival of Lights”.
    • “Halloween” occurs every year on October 31 with “Trick or
    • Treat” by the children and [optional] “Halloween Costume Party” by young and old adults.

    November

    • Elections in the US (Local races & Resolutions every year, House of Representatives every two years, One third of Senators every two years, President every four years)
    • Nov 22 : JFK assassinated (Conspiracy Theory survives)
    • Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US

    December

    • U Thant Ah Yay Ah Khinn : dark day in the history of Burma
    • Apollo 8 orbited the Moon in December 1968
    • Dec 25 : Christmas
    • Dec 31 : New Year’s Eve

    Grapevine says that some holy days are preceded by some “fun events”.

    • Halloween (October 31) precedes “All Saints Day” (November 1).
    • Similarly, “Mardi Gras” (“Fat Tuesday”) falls on the day before “Ash Wednesday” signifying the start of the Lent.
    Thingyan Su Paung Ya Han Khan

  • Electrical Engg Sayas

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    EE Sayas

    • During our RIT days, there were about 20 sayas at the Electrical Engineering Department
    • The Department offered two options : EC (Electrical Communications) and EP (Electrical Power).
    • Several decades later EC and EP became Departments with their own Professors and Heads.
      EC is also known as EcE or Electronics Engineering.
    • The Group photo shows 15 sayas.
      One was absent for the Photo Shoot.
      A few were on doing further studies abroad.
    • For SPZP-2010 held in Singapore, I wrote an article “A Short and Sad Clip : EE Sayas” for the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung.
      Saya U Moe War (Tekkatho Moe War, Chief Editor) suggested the Title.
    • U Thein Lwin and U Nyi Nyi (who passed away a few years back) were not covered in the article.
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    Article from SPZP-2010
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    Article (continued)
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    Article (End)

    U Kyaw Tun

    Engg Students
    • Group photo of the “Reunion in January 1980 of the Final Year Engineering Students in 1948 and 49” showed Sayagyi.
    • Joined the Department of Electrical Engineering
    • Continued teaching until his retirement.
    • Recruited Saya C. Ping Lee to join EE department in 1950.
    • Children : Dr. Elizabeth (Daw Tun Nu, Ph.D in English), Dorothy
    • “Doctor” Tin Aung Win wrote about his beloved father-in-law.

    C. Ping Lee

    C. Ping Lee
    • Recruited by Saya U Kyaw Tun to join Electrical Engineering, BOC College.
    • Transferred to the Directorate of Technical Education and Vocational Training at the request of H.E. U Than Aung (his Burmese teacher at St. Paul’s).
    • Dr. Win Aung (M 62) wrote about his beloved father in the “Post Reunion” series of SPZP-2000.
    • Articles by Dr. Win Aung, Saya U Htin Paw (EE 58), U Aw Taik Moh (C54), Saya Dr. San Hla Aung (C58) have references to Saya C. Ping Lee.
    • Saya passed away in Berkeley, CA in 1987.
    • Former students included the late Professor U Sein Hlaing.

    U Sein Hlaing

    U Sein Hlaing
    • Top in the class of 1952
    • MSEE from MIT
    • Professor of Electrical Engineering
    • Taught at BIT/RIT until retirement
    • Passed away a few years after retirement

    U Tin Swe

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    U Tin Swe was member of the Prome Football Team
    • MSEE from the University of Michigan.
    • Excellent in Soccer and Tennis.
    • Early Power User at the Universities’ Computer Center (UCC).

    U Sein Win

    U Sein Win
    • MSEE from the University of Michigan
    • Worked at the famous Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Technical Consultant for the UCC Project.
    • President of RIT Swimming, Water Polo and Diving
    • President of RIT Rowing
    • Line Judge at RUBC Regattas

    Dr. Freddie Ba Hli

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    Dr. F Ba Hli in Sydney, 2006
    • Sc.D in EE from MIT
    • Director General, UBARI
    • Taught part time at EE Department
    • Retired as National Advisor at the Ministry of National Planning and Finance
    • Member, UCC Advisory Board
    • External Examiner, UCC
    • Passed away in Sydney, Australia in his 90s

    U Thein Lwin

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is seniors-in-singapore.jpg
    Saya U Thein Lwin’s birthday in Singapore
    • MSEE from Lehigh University
    • Saya taught at RIT and Singapore Polytechnic
    • President, RIT Badminton Association

    Dr. San Tint

    Dr. San Tint
    • Taught until retirement
    • External Examiner, UCC
    • Attended SPZP-2000

    U Soe Min

    • After training in UK, transferred to DCA (Directorate of Civil Aviation)

    U Chin Way

    • Joined RIT in 1963
    • Active in SPARK
    • Was offered a job [promptly] by his interviewers after learning that their boss U Tun Aung (Jeffrey, EC68) was a student of Saya
    • Passed away in the USA

    U Nyi Nyi

    • Joined RIT in 1963
    • Introduced U Soe Paing to Dr. Chit Swe
    • Passed away in UK

    U Tin Shwe

    U Tin Shwe
    • Joined RIT in 1966
    • Taught at RIT and ABAC
    • Became monk after retirement
    • His demise is lamented in “To the Shwe Duo” (Poem by Tekkatho Moe War, Translation by Hla Min)

    U Kyaw Lwin

    • Hobbies : Rowing, Piano
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    RIT Eights
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    RIT Eights

    Daw Mya Mya Than

    • Joined RIT in 1968
    • Passed away

    Daw Nyunt Nyunt Yee

    • Joined RIT in 1972
    • Widow of Saya U Sein Hlaing
    • Head of Electrical Engineering (Power) Department at RIT/YIT/MIT.
    • Passed away on Jan 05, 2000

    U Myo Kyi

    U Myo Kyi
    • Joined EE Faculty in 1959.
    • Provided two lists of EE sayas : one for Senior sayas and another for Junior sayas
    • Was on deputation when the EE Sayas Group photo was taken.
    • Provided video for the 60th Anniversary of RIT.

    Dr. Ba Lwin

    Dr. Ba Lwin
    • Joined EE Faculty in 1959.
    • Was on deputation when the EE Sayas Group photo was taken.
    • Provided video for the 60th Anniversary of RIT.

    U Tin Maung Thein

    U Tin Maung Thein
    • Eldest son of Arzani U Ohn Maung.
    • Joined EE Faculty in 1962.
    • Was on deputation when the EE Sayas Group Photo was taken.

    U Khine Oo

    U Khine Oo
    • Joined the EE Faculty in 1963.
    • Missed the photo shoot of the EE Sayas.

  • Olympics

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Origins

    Modern Olympics was a revival of the ancient games held every four years at Olympia.

    The four year interval is called an Olympiad. The ancient Greeks use Olympiad instead of years when describing dates.

    Pierre de Coubertin created the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894.

    IOC selects a city or cities to hold the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. The two Olympics are interlaced.

    Drama in the Olympics

    Summer Olympics has its share of drama.

    The 1936 Summer Olympics was held in Berlin and was attended by Adolf Hitler (who promoted the supremacy of the Aryan race). Jesse Owens, a black athlete from the USA, won four Gold medals : 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m relay, and Long Jump.

    The drama supposedly occurred in the Long Jump event. Jesse Owens was having some problems in the Long Jump when the German competitor Lang advised him to leave about six inches gap behind the broad to prevent overstepping and getting disqualified. Jesse took the advice, regained his poise and went on to win the Long Jump Gold. (One article stated that Jessie Owens later retracted his story.)

    1972 Olympics in Munich saw both good and bad.

    Mark Spitz (USA) won seven Gold medals in swimming : 100m & 200m Freestyle, 100m & 200m Butterfly, 4 x 100m Freestyle relay, 4 x 200m Freestyle relay, and 4 x 100 Medley relay. He saved energy by not competing in the trials for selected relay events.

    Olga Kolburt (USSR) was awarded a couple of Perfect Ten in Gymnastics.

    Eleven Israeli athletes were kidnapped (shown live on TV) and murdered by Black September. Mossad took several years to track down and decimate Black September.

    USA boycotted the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow.

    USSR retaliated with a boycott of the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles.

    Highlights from Summer Olympics

    • 1896 Athens (Inaugural Olympics)
    • 1900 Paris (first time)
    • 1904 St. Louis
    • 1908 London (first time)
    • 1912 Stockholm
    • 1916 (Cancelled due to WWI)
    • 1924 Paris (second time)
    • 1928 Amsterdam
    • 1932 Los Angeles (first time)
    • 1936 Berlin (attended by Adolph Hitler)
    • 1940 (Cancelled due to WWII)
    • 1944 (Cancelled due to WWII)
    • 1948 London (second time)
    • 1952 Helsinki (e.g. Flying Finn in Track and Field)
    • 1956 Melbourne (e.g. Dawn Fraser, female Swimmer)
    • 1960 Rome (e.g. Abibi Bikila, barefoot Marathoner)
    • 1964 Tokyo (e.g. Japanese female Volleyball)
    • 1968 Mexico City (e.g. Long Jump Leap by Bob Beamon)
    • 1972 Munich (e.g. Mark Sptiz, swimmer; Black September)
    • 1976 Montreal (e.g. Nadia Comancie, gymnast)
    • 1980 Moscow (Boycott by USA)
    • 1984 Los Angeles (second time; Boycott by USSR)
    • 1988 Seoul (e.g. Carl Lewis, sprinter and long jumper)
    • 1992 Barcelona (e.g. USA Dream Team for Basketball)
    • 1996 Atlanta (e.g. USA, most medals)
    • 2000 Sydney (e.g. held in September rather than June or July)
    • 2004 Athens (second time)
    • 2008 Beijing (e.g. Michael Phelps, swimmer)
    • 2012 London (third time)
    • 2016 Rio De Janerio (first Olympics held in South America)
    • 2020 Tokyo (Postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic)

    Olympians

    Jesse Owens : Four Golds in 1936 Berlin Olympics (for Track and Field)
    Later equaled by Carl Lewis

    Mark Spitz : Seven Gold Medals in 1972 Munich Olympics (for Swimming)
    Michael Phelps later won Eight Gold Medals

    Some Olympians went on to have illustrious careers.

    Johnny Weissmuller, swimming champion, gained fame as Tarzan in the movies.

    Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion, went on to become Mohammad Ali, three time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

    Media Coverage

    During my SPHS days, there was no television in Burma. I received a ticket from Brother Austin as a prize to see the “1960 Rome Olympics” documentary at Thamada (President) cinema.

    I was in the UK and was fortunate to see the 1972 Munich Olympics on a Color television.

  • EE in Aug 1969

    By Thein Swe

    Updated : Apr 2026

    EE69ers

    They were the humble, hard working classmates of EE69ers who usually shared knowledge with each other when someone could not catch up lectures/text-books. The great photo was taken in August 1969.

    4th Row, L to R:

    Myint Swe(EP, Mogoke, ex-Steel mill, GBNF), Thein Swe (EP, Meiktila), Aye Thein (EP, Mawlamyaing, ex-glass mill), Khin Maung Nyo (EP, Inle, Innthar, GBNF), Khin Maung Win (EP, Kathar, Sar-ga-lay, ex-EPC), (Henry) Than Lwin (EC, ex-lecturer, Ygn, Gaung-gyi), Kyaw Zin (EP, ex-Paper mill, -EO), Khrishan Lal (EP, Aussie), Tin Hla (EP, Myaungmya, ex-EPC), Myint Maung (EP, Minbu, Bugyi, ex-EPC, single), Zau Lai (EP, Myitkyina, Kachin, ex-PWC, ex-EO, entreprenuer), Bishnu Shahi (EP, Nepalese, maybe in Nepal/US ?)

    3rd Row

    , Sein Myint (EP, Ygn, S’pore), Saw Edison (EP, ex-fertilizer, Aussie), Khin Win (EP, ex-paper mill, GBNF), Soe Win (EP, ex-Namtu mine, Mawlamyaing, Basketball, GBNF), Yee Htun (EP, now in Yangon), Aung Than (EP, ex-fertilizer, So-sie), Mehm Ye Win (EC, Mawlamyaing, ex-telecoms), Maung Ko (EC, Bogalay, ex-MOGE), Kyi Win (EP, Kyaw Gyi, ex-txt mill, -EO, Meiktila), Sai Aik Yee (EC, now in Ygn fighting diabetes), Tun Aung Gyaw (EC, Meiktila, ex-UCC, US), (Robert) Win Boh (EC, ex-DCA, Aussie), Hla Min(EC,ex-UCC, US), Khin Maung Bo (EP, now in Ygn)

    2nd Row

    Aung Thu Yein (EC, Ygn, ex-MOGE, -Schlumberger, GBNF), Abdul Rauf (EP, ex-fertilizer, now in Ygn), Sai Kham Pan (EP, Badminton,Taung-gyi, ex-Distiller), Tun Oo Khaing (EP, Rakhine, ex-Paper mill, GBNF), Hla Paik (EP, Chaung Oo, ex-EPC), Chit Tin (EC, Nyaung Oo, ex-MOGE, GBNF), Sa Maung Maung (EP, Thaton, ex-Paper mill), Mg Shwe (EP,ex-EPC), Oo Kyaw Hla (EC, ex-MOGE, Canada?), Sai Hwet @ Myat Soe Lwin (EP, now in Ygn), Aung Kyaw Pe (EP, ex-EPC, long time S’pore, sometime M’ysia), Khin Mg @ Hasan (EP, Saudi Arabia)

    Front Row

    Sayas U Moe Aung, U (Saw) Khaing Oo, U Ba Myint, U Soe Paing, U Kyaw Tun (GBNF), U Sein Hlaing (GBNF), U Tint Swe (GBNF), U Ba Lwin, U Sein Win(GBNF), U Thein Lwin (S’pore, GBNF), U Tin Shwe (GBNF), U Sein Maung, Ma Tin Tin (EC, US)

    Happy to send precious memory re-caller.

    Absentees:

    Kyaw Sein (EP69, Myingyan, ex-cement mill, S’pore), Kyaw Soe (EC, deceased).

    There are other elect classmates (63/64 intakes or 69/70/71 grads) such as Minn Aung @ Hla Thoung (EP 70, ex-cement mill, S’pore), Ko Toung (US), Surinder Singh (EP, Taung-gyi, Aussie), Aung Than (EP ? or quit. Pyinmana, playing cards), Than Htay (EP 70?, Dawei,Tavoy, ex-EPC), Ko Thoung? (EP?, ex-PWC), Win Mg (quit before graduate, ex-DCA,-private air line), Tin Shwe (EP70?, Taungthar,ex-EPC), Aye Thaw (repeater EP, Kyaukpadaung, ex-EPC), Ba Oak(repeater, Shwe Bo, ex-EPC), Khin Mg Tint (repeater, Windwin-Meiktila, ex-EPC), Moe Hein (EP70?, Meiktila, ex-Jute dept), (Michael) Thein Htun (repeater, ex-sailor, jolly), Kyi Shwin(repeater, ex-astrologer) as far as I remember.

    Ko Aung Thu Yein (EC69, now GBNF) wrote :

    Ko Thein Swe,

    A Brilliant Effort. In fact it is a time frame. We’ll keep it as long as we live. And we want our offspring and relatives to keep it and pass it on. First our Metta to our Parents/Guardians. Then to our mentors whoever they are. Without them we’ll never be Smart Engineers. We were blessed to be in that group. And our Buddhist Philosophy. Some of us have left and we’ll follow them suit later or sooner. While we are breathing let us be together near or far. Carry on. Well done!

    Chan Thar Ko Sake Myare Bar Zay,

    Editor’s Notes :

    • After retirement, several Sayas and alumni relocated (e.g. from Singapore and Thailand back to Myanmar).
    • Some spend part of the year visiting their children and grandchildren in US, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong
    • Several EE 69ers including Ko Thein Swe are now GBNF.

  • Memories

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Paying back ကျေးဇူး ဆပ်

    From our younger days, we learned about paying respect to our parents, mentors and benefactors.

    ကျွန်တော် တို့ ငယ်စဉ် ကတည်း က ကျေးဇူးတရား အကြောင်း လေ့လာ မှတ်သား လေ့ကျင့် ခဲ့ ရပါတယ်။

    I am following the noble tradition of honoring pioneers and outstanding people. I am trying my best to present their achievements and contributions. I an privileged to have known many seniors, contemporaries and juniors.

    Who’s Who, Twentieth Century Impressions of Burma, Five Minute Biographies တွေ ကို နည်းယူပြီး ကျွန်တော် က Old Burma တုန်းက ထူးချွန်သူ တွေ ကို မှတ်တမ်းတင် ဂုဏ်ပြု နေတဲ့ ရှေ့မှီ နောက်မှီ (ဘေးမှီ) သူတယောက်ပါ။

    I volunteered as a Docent at the Computer History Museum (CHM) for two years. CHM’s programs include Hardware & Software Artifacts, Exhibits, Oral History, Lectures, Panels and Award Ceremonies.

    ကျွန်တော် Computer History Museum မှာ Docent အဖြစ် နှစ်နှစ် volunteer လုပ်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။ Computer Pioneer တွေ ကို မှတ်တမ်းတင်ဂုဏ်ပြု တဲ့ အဖွဲ့အစည်းပါ။ Artifacts, Exhibits, Oral History, Lectures & Panels တွေ စုံလင်ပါတယ်။

    The Old Burma Group has posts about History, Notable (Famous as well as Notorious) people. I appreciate the invaluable posts as a reader and contributor.

    Old Burma Group ဟာလည်း သမိုင်း နဲ့ ထူးချွန် / ဆိုးသွမ်း (Famous as well as Notorious) ကို မှတ်တမ်း တင် နေ တဲ့ အဖွဲ့ မို့ Contributor တယောက် အနေ နဲ့ ဝမ်းသာ ကြည်နူး မိပါတယ်။

    I request the Group Administrator and Moderators to approve my posts.

    ကျွန်တော် ရဲ့ posts တွေကို တင်ပြခွင့်ပြုပါ Admin နဲ့ Moderator များ ခင်ဗျာ။

    ကျွန်တော် က
    I am

    • Founder & Chief Editor of RIT Alumni Newsletter
    • Owner & Admin of RIT Updates FB Group
    • Member of HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education) : အဖွဲ့ဝင်၊
    • ကံ့ကော်မြေ (တက္ကသိုလ်ရာပြည့်) Former Moderator of RU Centennial Group : Moderator ငြိမ်း၊
    • Contributing Editor of RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine / မဂ္ဂဇင်း : စာတည်း
    • Former employee of UCC, DCS, ICST : ဝန်ထမ်း ငြိမ်း၊
    • စာပေ၊ သမိုင်း၊ ပညာရေး နဲ့ အားကစား ဝါသနာရှင်၊
      Interests : Literature, History, Education, Sports
    • Contributor of Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife
    • စာအုပ်တချို့ ရဲ့ စာတည်း
      Editor of selected books — e.g by Sayadaw U Jotalankara, Saya U Aung Zaw (UCC, GBNF)
    • Own / ကိုယ်ပိုင် website : Author / Editor
      hlamin.com

    I have posted articles of historical interest.

    အဖြစ်နဲ့ သမိုင်းဝင် အကြောင်းအရာ တချို့ကို ပြန်လည်မျှဝေ နေဆဲပါ။

    ကြည်နူး Delighted

    I am glad to receive feedback, information and suggestions from my former teachers, family members of senior alumni, colleagues and friends.

    Posts တွေမှာ ပါတဲ့ ဆရာ၊ ဆရာမ၊ Senior Alumni တွေရဲ့ မိသားစုများ၊ အပေါင်းအသင်းများ ရဲ့ Feedback & Information တွေ ဖတ်ရလို့ ဝမ်းသာပါတယ်။

    I also learned a lot from the posts by Subject Matter Experts and Group Experts.

    SME (Subject Matter Experts), Group Experts … တွေ ရဲ့ posts တွေ ကို ဖတ် ရလို့ ဗဟုသုတ ရပါတယ်။

    Credits

    I have provided Credit for the Photos and References.

    တတ်နိုင်သရွေ့ Source, Photos တွေကို Credit ပေးခဲ့ ပါတယ်။

    Fond Memories

    Pon Tu (Portrait) Present from

    Bagyee Myat Myo Myint (U Myo Myint)

    U Myo Myint (Retired Deputy General Manager of Burma Railways) is an accomplished Painter, Cover Designer and Cartoonist. He drew Pon Tu’s of selected RIT Sayas, Sayamas, and colleagues. I am honored to receive his present.

    ပန်းချီ မြတ်မျိုးမြင့် ရဲ့ လက်ဆောင် မွန်
    Pon Tu gift from Bagyee Myat Myo Myint / U Myo Myint (M)

    Pon Tu

    1964 – 65
    Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT)

    I was admitted to 2nd BE (Bachelor of Engineering) in November 1964.

    The photo was taken at the Gyogone campus.

    2nd BE student

    1964 – 65 ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဒုတိယနှစ် သင်တန်းသား
    2nd BE Student at Rangoon Institute of Technology

    1965 Summer
    Inlay Luyechun Camp

    I was selected as Luyechun (Outstanding Student).

    The photo was taken at the Welcome Ceremony by the Head of Shan States.

    LYC

    1965 နွေရာသီ အင်းလေး ခေါင်တိုင် လူရည်ချွန် စခန်း
    တက္ကသိုလ် နဲ့ အထက်တန်း လူရည်ချွန်များ
    Inlay Khaung Daing Luyechun Camp in the Summer of 1965

    1969 December
    Poem for 5th SEAP Games

    Burma hosted the 2nd SEAP Games in 1961, and the 5th SEAP Games in 1969.

    The photo shows a page from the Forward Magazine. Maung Thaw Ka (Bohmu Ba Thaw, GBNF) was Chief Editor of the magazine.

    Forward

    Forward မဂ္ဂဇင်း — ဒီဇင်ဘာ 1969
    ပဥ္စမ အကြိမ် အရှေ့တောင်အာရှ ကျွန်းဆွယ်ပွဲ အတွက် ကဗျာ စပ်ဆို ခဲ့
    Poem about the 5th SEAP Games

    Mid 1970s
    Universities’ Computer Center (UCC), Rangoon

    The photo was taken with the Teachers and Students of CPC (Computer Programming Course).

    Dr. Tin Maung (GBNF) succeeded Dr. Chit Swe (UCC Founder, GBNF) as Director of UCC.

    UCC

    တက္ကသိုလ်များ ကွန်ပျူတာ ဌာန က ပို့ချတဲ့ သင်တန်း တခု
    Computer Course at Universities’ Computer Center (UCC), Thamaing College Campus

    1999 April to 2025
    Chief Editor of RIT Alumni International Newsletter

    https://hlamin.com/2024/03/09/rit-alumni-newsletter-for-spzp-2000-2/

    RIT Alumni Newsletter

    2000 October
    Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in California

    SPZP-2000

    SPZP-2000 Organizers

    2005++
    Paying Homage to Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa

    U Silananda

    ဆရာတော် ဦးသီလာနန္ဒာဘိဝံသ (ပါချုပ်ဆရာတော်)
    အထိမ်းအမှတ် မော်ကွန်းစာစောင်အတွက် အဖွဲ့ဝင် & စာတည်း
    Contributing Editor for the Book published in memory of Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa

    2010 December
    Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in Singapore

    SDY Sar Saung

    2010 စင်ကာပူ မှာ ကျင်းပတဲ့ စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ အထိမ်း အမှတ် စွယ်တော်ရိပ်စာစောင်
    Wrote an article “A Sad and Short Clip: EE Sayas” for the Commemorative Issue
    of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for SPZP-2010 in Singapore

    2012 December
    Saya Pu Zaw Pwe at Gyogone Campus

    SPZP-2012

    ပွင့်လင်းခေတ်
    2012 မှာ ကျင်းပခဲ့ တဲ့ ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ
    SPZP-2012: True Home Coming

    HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Project)
    HMEE Book published in 2012

    HMEE

    မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အင်ဂျင်နီယာ ပညာရေး သမိုင်း ပြုစု တဲ့ အဖွဲ့
    Member of HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education)
    U Ohn Khine (M70) and I compiled the CD Supplement for the HMEE Book published in 2012
    Copies of the Book were donated to Libraries

    CD

    2012 နှစ် မှာ ထုတ်ဝေခဲ့တဲ့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အင်ဂျင်နီယာပညာရေး သမိုင်း စာအုပ် ရဲ့ နောက်ဆက်တွဲ စီဒီ
    CD Supplement for the HMEE Book
    Photos and articles (in English) to supplement the articles (in Burmese) in the HMEE Book

    2013
    RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

    RUBC

    2013 — ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ် လှေလှော်အသင်း ရဲ့ နှစ် 90 ပြည့် အထိမ်း အမှတ်စာစောင်
    RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

    2014 December
    RIT Shwe YaDu (Golden Jubilee)

    SDY Magazine

    ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ရွှေရတု အထိမ်းအမှတ်စွယ်တော်ရိပ် မဂ္ဂဇင်း (2014)
    Wrote an article “Memories of a 69er” for the Commemorative Issue
    of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for Shwe YaDu 2014

    2016 September
    Alumni Appreciation Award

    Award

    2019 December
    RUBC 96th Anniversary Regatta

    Regatta

    RUBC 96th Anniversary & Regatta (2019)
    U Tin Myint (GBNF), U Sein Htoon, U Khin Maung Latt, U Hla Min

    2019 December
    Golden Jubilee of Graduation of RIT 69ers

    GJ

    2019 — 1969 နှစ် ဘွဲ့ရ အင်ဂျင်နီယာများ ရဲ့ ရွှေရတု
    မနက်ပိုင်း — ကြို့ကုန်း မှာ ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ
    2019 — Golden Jubilee of Graduation for RIT 69ers
    Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe at Gyogone Campus

    SPHS

    Std VI (D)

    Saya U Pe Tin’s Class

  • Till We Meet Again

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Poem

    Poem
    • My poem “Till we meet again” was published in the Forward Magazine on December 15, 1969. The Chief Editor was Maung Thaw Ka (Bohmu Ba Thaw).
    • I received fifteen kyats for my poem.

    SEAP Games

    • The First SEAP (South East Asia Peninsula) Games was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1959.
    • Burma hosted the Second SEAP Games in December 1961, and the Fifth SEAP Games in December 1969.
    • Myint Aung won six Gold medals in Gymnastics. Jimmy Crampton won Gold in 800 m and 1500 m. Shimbwegan succeeded Mee Tung Naw as the Marathon Champion.

    Tekkatho Moe War wrote : Well, Maung Hla Min, this is indeed one of the unexpected from your expected works. Congrats!