HlaMin

Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)

  • History

    During our school days we had to learn World History (Feudal system, Renaissance, …) and Burmese History (called “Yazawin”and renamed as “Thamaing”).

    Later, after hearing from the Thin sayas, Myin sayas, and Kyar sayas, I became interested in some aspects of history :

    • History of computers and computing
    • History of Myanmar Engineering Education
    • “Truth or fiction?” about historical events
    • …

    The British annexed Burma in three phases :

    • Rakhine (Arakan) and Tennasserim (Taninthayee)
      after the first Anglo-Burmese war
    • Lower Burma
      after the second Anglo-Burmese war
    • Upper Burma
      after the third Anglo-Burmese war

    For some time, the British Governors would base their office in India and rule both India and Burma.

    ICS (Indian Civil Service) examinations were held in India and UK.
    BCS (Burma Civil Service) succeeded ICS.

    Formal history of Burma has been written by British scholars (e.g. Harvey, Luce) and later by native scholars (e.g. Dr. Kyaw Thet, Bohmu Ba Shin, Dr. Than Tun).

    Informal accounts of Burma can be found in the works by Indians (e.g. Tagore), British (e.g. Maurice Collis, George Orwell) and Burmese (e.g. Dr. Htin Aung, U Po Kyar).

    The conventional wisdom is that our neighbors entered the country in three phases.

    Burmese archeologists and geologists found ancient sites and quite old fossils and bones to indicate that there were early inhabitants, but they could not completely counter the “migration theory” proposed by the British historians.

    Pyu is an ancient civilization, and some Pyu sites are named as UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites.

    Some sayings

    • History repeats itself.
    • We should learn history so that we may not be stupid or dumb.
    • There is usually no single correct history.
      Often there are parallel, competing histories.
    • “Pazat Yazawin” and “theories” should be evaluated with the help of kyauk sar (stone inscriptions) …
    • Even in the peer-to-peer refereed papers, there are discrepancies and [unintentional] errors.
    • National Archive, Burmese History Commission, and Burma Research Society used to hold artifacts about Burmese History.

  • Energy

    In High School Physics, we learned about Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy. We studied some old laws such as the “Law of Conservation of Energy”.

    Energy comes in different forms (e.g. Mechanical, Thermal, Electric, Chemical, Nuclear).

    Alternative energy sources (e.g. Solar, Wind) were marketed with Tax Incentives.

    E = M C^2 (squared) is a overly simple explanation of the generation of nuclear energy.

    The A-bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to debates on the appropriate use of nuclear energy.

    Doomsayers feel that Apocalypse due to Nuclear War is highly likely.

    Most countries initially do not care about environmental changes caused by the production and use of energy.

    Some later care too much about the environment. The restrictions and bans (e.g. on the use of fossil fuels due to potential pollution) had economic bearing on some nations.

    Trends include Renewable Energy, and Sustainable Energy.

  • History and Historians

    HMEE Project

    • Saya U Aung Hla Tun is the Lead Author for HMEE-2012 and HMEE-2018 projects.
    • Saya U Ba Than arranged with Saya U Thaw Kaung to provide access to the archives of RU Central Library by Saya U Soe Paing and team.
    • Saya U Tin U was interviewed by Saya U Soe Paing.
    • Saya U Khin Aung Kyi was interviewed by U Ohn Khine.
      Several volunteers assisted with other interviews.
    • U Ohn Khine and I compiled the CD Supplement for the HMEE book.
    • Details can be found in related posts.
    • Mr. Robert Hole was the English Editor for RUESU (Rangoon University Engineering Students Union) Annual Magazine.
      Daughter : Sayama Daw Gilmore Hole (UCC)
      Nephew : U Percy Maung Maung (classmate of Saya U Soe Paing at SPHS and Stanford University).
    • Saya asked Mr. Robert to write for the “History of University Engineering Education in Burma/Myanmar”. Mr. Robert asked three weeks.
      Said to say, Mr. Robert did not complete his assignment.
    • During my visit to Yangon, Gilmore invited UCC alumni to a mini-gathering at her house.
      We learned from Gilmore that her father had “memory retention problem”.
    • That is one reason I am sharing my memories before my memory declines.

    History

    • History is appreciated in some countries.
    • In the USA, there are many museums (with Docents) and historical societies (with Historians).
    • I volunteered as a Docent at the Computer History Museum (CHM) for several years.
    • CHM has an “Oral History” Project to record interviews of pioneers, researchers, and notable people.
    • CHM also had live presentations: individuals and/or panels (with a moderator).
    • According to the Historian from Smithsonian, “There is generally no single, correct history. Often, there are competing parallel histories.”
    • We understand that there are pressing issues (e.g. rebuilding the alma mater and our beloved motherland to their former glory), but we also need to have historical facts compiled (in writing or in interviews) and preserved.

    Native Historians

    • U Ba Nyunt (Chit Dukkha)
    • Dr. Kyaw Thet
    • Bohmu Ba Shin
    • Dr. Than Tun
    • Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt
    • Dr. Htin Aung (Folklorist)

  • Rules

    Rule သည် Law ဥပဒေ မဟုတ်။

    လမ်းညွှန် ချက်၊ အကြံပေး ချက် … ပါနိုင်။

    —-

    ** 80/20 Rule

    အရေးကြီးတဲ့ 20 ရာခိုင်နှုန်း ကို ရှာပြီး လုပ်

    လုပ်ငန်း ရဲ့ 80 ရာခိုင်နှုန်း ပြီးစီး / အောင်မြင်နိုင်။

    ကုန်ထုတ်ပစ္စည်း product 20 % ဟာ

    ရောင်းရငွေ sales 80 % ဖြစ်နိုင်။

    Computer code 20 % ဟာ

    Execution time 80 % ကြာနိုင်။

    80/20 တိတိကျကျ ဖြစ်စရာ မလို

    75/25, 70/30 … ဖြစ်နိုင်။

    အရာရာ ကို equal priority မထား ဘို့ သတိထား။

    —-

    ** 90/90 Rule

    Project ရဲ့ 90 % ပြီး တယ် ဆိုပါစို့။

    ကျန်တဲ့ 10 % ကို ပြီးဘို့ အချိန် ကြာတတ်။

    အရင် 90 % ကြာသလောက်ကြာနိုင်။

    အရာတိုင်း ဟာ အခက်အခဲ မတူ တတ်။

    —-

    ** 5-4-3-2-1 Rule

    စိတ်ညစ်စရာ၊ ဒေါသထွက်စရာ၊ … ကြုံရင်

    ငါး၊ လေး၊ သုံး၊ နှစ်၊ တစ် လို့ ရေတွက် ကြည့်။

    အသက် မှန်မှန် ရှူ။

    —-

    ** SMART Goal

    Version အမျိုးမျိုး ရှိနိုင်

    Specific — သေချာ၊ ရေရာ

    Measurable — တိုင်းထွာ နိုင်

    Achievable — ရနိုင်၊ ပြီးမြောက်နိုင်

    Relevant — သက်ဆိုင်

    Time-bound — အချိန်ကန့်သတ်

    —

    ** ဆက်နွယ်

    Conventional Wisdom

    Unconventional Wisdom

  • Horse Racing

    • In our younger days, Rangoon Turf Club held horse races probably every week end.
    • U Chit Khine, father of U Myint Khine (Norman, SPHS57, C63), served as Secretary of the Turf Club.
    • Per U Thein Han, four members of Rangoon Turf Club were invited in 1958 as Guests of Hong Kong Turf Club. They were entertained with a special cruise.
    • Several medical doctors and business men were Patrons.
    • Newspapers ran columns about the forthcoming horse races and their tips on which horses they think will win (take first place) or place (take second place).
    • The races are based on the class (e.g. age, height) of the horses.
      To give a fair chance to the competing horses, the past winners have to carry additional weight as handicap.

    [Per U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, EC76)] :
    In the 70s and early 80s, there was a running joke about Hong Kong, where the three most powerful people there were the viceroy, chairman or head of the Chamber of Commerce and the President of the Turf club.

    Treble Tote

    • Three specified races constitute the “Treble Tote”.
    • One has to bet all three winners to claim the Grand Prize.

    Lost time and money

    • Many lost time trying to guess the winners.
    • Lost money betting on the wrong horses.
    • U Ne Win declared that “Horse Racing would be banned [for the good of the people].”
      Grapevine says that U Ne Win did not attend the Martyrs’ Day celebrations, since he wanted to be in the UK for the Derby.

    Visit

    • We had never been to the racing ground.
    • Thein Wai (SPHS63) asked several classmates if they would like to visit the Rangoon Turf Club before it would be closed forever.
      His father (Dr. Ko Gyi) was a Patron of the Club.
    • We saw some “Nwa Pwe” (bullock cart races) that supplement the regular horse races.

  • Harmony

    In our younger days

    Our grand parents and parents had workers who were non-Buddhists. They gave us sweets (for Diwali), dan bauk (for Id) and presents (for Christmas).

    During our younger days, we had classmates who professed different religions and lived in perfect harmony.

    Christians

    Saya U Pe Maung Tin was a Christian, but he helped with the translation of Buddhist texts (e.g. Vissuddhi Magga). Saya also translated the two sermons (Dhammacakka and Anatta Lekkhana Sutta) into English at the request of U Tha Win (who published the two sermons in Pali, Burmese and English).

    Teacher Kywe (PPBRS) was a Karen Christian teacher who transformed me into a “life long learner”. My mother would ask me to visit her several years before she retired.

    Rev. Bernard Taylor (SPHS) retired as a Missionary in the Philippines.

    Rev. Edwin David (SPHS, GBNF) served as Priest of St. Mary’s Cathedral.

    Several RIT alumni (including a few Golden Sponsors) are Christians. They embrace SPZPs.

    The term Saya Pu Zaw Pwe was chosen over Saya Ga Daw Pwe (which had religious connotation) so that all students can pay back the metta and cetana of their mentors.

    Sikhs

    D. S. Saluja (SPHS, RIT) and A. S. Sonu (SPHS) are Sikhs.

    Several Singhs are RIT alumni. They include Meenu, Jagjit, Surinder, and Uttam.

    Muslims

    • Arzani U Razak
      Early Graduate of National College
      Principal of National School in Mandalay
      Was nominated by several Sayadaws to be Education Minister in Bogyoke Aung San’s Cabinet
    • U Raschid
      Student Leader for RUSU and Ba Ka Tha
      Minister
    • U Khin Maung Latt
      Minister
    • U Pe Khin
      Negotiator at Pin Lon Conference
    • Bohmu Ba Shin
      Burma Historical Commission
    • U Hla Kyi (Geologist, younger son of U Razak)
      Helped solve the “Foundation” problem at Shwe Dagon Pagoda
    • Edward Hla Shwe I and II (SPHS) were Muslims.
    • Several RIT alumni (including the organizers at RIT Alumni International and 69er gatherings) are Muslims.
    • U Thein Ngwe (Ko Thein Tokyo) sent a photo of RIT Muslim students in 1971.
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ritm-tn.jpg

    Men on the Moon

    For the last stanza of my poem “Men on the Moon”, I wrote

    “Are we not brothers here on earth?
    So let us all unite.
    There will be heaven here on earth
    If we all cease to fight”.

  • Opinion

    Everyone is entitled to an opinion. e.g. Social media is good for getting contact with lost friends, but not good for use in research papers.

    Some newspapers have Op-Ed (Opinion and Editorial). e.g. There may be two competing opinions of DST (Daylight Savings Time) : one for and one against.

    An opinion may not be true. It may have biases and unintentional errors.

    One should not react to an unfavorable opinion. e.g. Names may not be a hobby for everyone.

    One should take whatever is relevant in the opinion. Then, optionally, one should respond (e.g. which parts are relevant, and which parts are not).

    The following are examples of incorrect assessments by experts.

    • “Joe Montana cannot be an efficient Quarterback, because he does not have the structure, strength and finesse.” JHe went on to win four Superbowl, and entered the Football Hall of Fame.
    • “Apple Music and Apple Computers are two different fields. There need not be confusion with Apple in their names and products.” The judge for the Trade Mark suit could not see deep into the future. The Beatles songs (owned by Apple Music) are played in iPod (owned by Apple Computers).
    • “The Long Jump record at Mexico City Olympics will not be broken at other places (with lower altitudes).”
      Bob Beamon’s leap beat the existing Olympic and World Records by a wide margin, and was considered a “fluke” (partly aided by the rarefied atmosphere). The record was broken by Carl Lewis (who won the Long Jump at four Olympics).

  • RU Articles (Kyemon)

    Article by U Htin Kyaw

    Dalaban (former President U Htin Kyaw) wrote about the early use of Burmese / Myanmar terms related to University. He presented

    * Thuriya (Sun) newspaper from 1930 about the naming of terms (e.g University, Principal) in Burmese / Myanmar
    * Cover of College magazine (1930)
    * Matriculation Certificate of his father Saya U Wun (Minthuwun)

    Other articles

    • Early sayas
      U Pe Maung Tin, U Aung Hla …
    • Selected departments
    • Exhibits
      Magazines, Journals, Newspapers, Photos, Bios …
    • Gatherings
      Reunion, Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe …
    • Ah Nyeints
      from various Schools
    • Competitions
      Posters, Paintings …
    • Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins

    Prominent Burmese

    U Win Aung (Maung Aung Mon, Win Aung Gyi, BBS, VOA) wrote articles about Dr. Htin Aung (first native Rector of RU) and several prominent Burmese (e.g. Mahn Win Maung, former President of the Union of Burma). During his BBS days, he announced soccer matches from Aung San Stadium.

    In the RU Centennial Group

    There are many

    • Photos
    • Kabyars
    • Articles
      by readers spanning several generations.

    TV stations


    Broadcasts include

    • RU -themed songs
    • Interview with Sayagyi Dr. Chit Swe
      Retired Rector, Pioneer of Computer Systems, Application and Education in Burma
    • Interview with Saya U Tin Oo Hlaing
      After his retirement, Saya served as translator / interpreter for Saddhammaransi Sayadaw.

  • What is RU?

    Rangoon University (RU)

    • In a broad sense, RU is the ancestor of the 300 (or so) educational institutions in Myanmar.
    • RU is more than the Main Campus (originally shared by Judson College and some Faculties of Rangoon College).
    • RU is more than the 8 (or so) Departments (e.g Law) in December 1920.
    • RU was a highly ranked university (backed up by its staff and students excelling in their studies in UK, USA, …).
    • Students from other countries came to study at RU.
    • RU was the alma mater of Leaders (e.g Bogyoke Aung San, UNSG U Thant), Diplomats, Scholars, Professionals, Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins, Athletes …
    • In the early days, the Top Matriculates pursued their passion.
    • There was no pressure to study selected disciplines (to be considered as Professionals).
    • Dr. Hla Shwe (First in Burma in 1953) studied Physics
    • Koon Yin Chu (Phillip Chu, First in Burma in 1954) studied Architecture
    • Dr. Htin Kyaw (First in Burma in 1957) studied Physics
    • Dr. Soe Win (First in Burma in 1958) studied Chemistry
    • Dr. Frankie Ohn (First in Burma in 1959) studied Physics
    • Dr. Min Oo (Second in Burma in 1963) studied Mathematics

    Changes

    • There have been several “New” Education Systems, several name changes and several institutions.
    • Several students were effected by the use of the controversial ILA to admit matriculates to universities.
    • There were stories about the higher authorities “pressuring” the sayas to let “all students” pass.
    • There were reports about inadequate equipment and extremely long commutes to “remote” places (without adequate housing for staff and students).

    Hope

    Hope the noble RU tradition can be maintained at all the universities and institutions in Myanmar.

  • Events at Rangoon University

    Fresher Welcome

    • Pat Tin-Win had the courage to request Sayagyi Dr. Ba Than (who was Medical Superintendent of the Japan Khit Say Yone Gyi, Rector of IM(1) and founder of the Zwe Ah Nyeint) to play Myamangiri on the harp, and allow the recording to be used for her friend Rosie to dance at the 1964 Chemistry Fresher Welcome.
    • Sayagyi complied.

    Extracurricular Activities

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is saing-waing-1-mmt.jpg
    Saing Waing
    • Those who chose to stay in hostels have fond memories of the various functions (e.g. by Thahaya and Sar Phutt Ah Thinn — Social and Reading Clubs), the Inter-Hall and Inter-Institute Sporting Events (e.g. at Aung San Stadium).
    • Per Daw Nyunt Nyunt Tin, she was a Day Scholar, but she spent a lot of time at Marlar Hall (known not just for beauties but for the excellent sports teams).
    • Some tried Rowing at the Rangoon University Boat Club (RUBC).
      The pioneer female rowers were from the Institute of Economics and RASU (partly because they are close to RUBC). They were later joined from other Institutes (e.g. RIT, IM(1), Education).
      RUBC was founded by Sir Arthur Eggar (Law Professor) in 1923. Details of RUBC can be found in the 90th Anniversary Issue (published in 2013). RUBC allowed female members in the mid 1960s. Pioneer female members were mostly from Institute of Economics (e.g. Ma Khin Mya), RASU (e.g. Jill Gaudoin /Aye) and some from other institutes.
    • Some remember the musical evenings and nights by Pho So Chins.
      Tekkatho Tun Naung (then a Dental College Student, Luyechun for the Summer Camp of 1965 at Inlay) would play mandolin in front of the Ladies’ Halls (e.g. Inya Hall). He would later co-found the Stereo Khit.
    • Related posts
      Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins
      RUBC
      Social and Reading Club