by Hla Min
Updated : Dec 2025
Let Oo Sayas
U Tin Gyi’s Family
Old photos processed by Myo Kyawswar
Sisters
Daw Khin Swe Hla (Icy)
Dr. Khin Kyi Nyunt (Cherry)
Win Latt (ex-UCC)
Myint Swe (EP74) & San San (EC74)
U Sein Mg (EE63) & U Moe Aung (EE63)
Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)
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Photos (New & Old)
With my beloved parents Sisters 1 (original) Sisters 2 (processed) Wedding 1 (original) Wedding 2 (processed) Cherry, Peter, Ye Myint Cherry, Peter Cherry 1 Cherry 2 Cherry 3 Win Latt Myint Swe, San San Two EE Sayas -
Holidays and Events
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
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 -
November 2021
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
Daw San San Swe
- Showed her culinary skills as a Surprise Thanksgiving Present.
- Prepared Ah Htutt Ta Ya Palata, Chicken Curry and Bean Soup.
San San (2nd from Right) Losses
- Within six weeks, Daw Thuza Aung suffered two losses : her beloved spouse U Tun Aung (Jeffery, EC68) and her elder brother U San Aung (New York).
Jeffrey Grand parents
- U Thein Naing (Patrick) and Daw Khin Myo Aung (Mi Mi) recently became proud Grandparents.
Patrick (2nd from Left) - U Aung Myaing (ChE72) and Daw Gyn Yu (ChE72) is planning to welcome their fourth Grandchild.
U Aung Myaing Donation
- In memory of David Ko (U Tin Myint, M67), Mavis Ko donated $2000 to NorCal RITAA.
Garawa
- The Class of C84 paid respect to sayas (U Min Wun, Dr. San Hla Aung …) online.
Posts
- Good News သာရေး
- News သတင်း
- Newsletter သတင်းစဉ်
- Sad News နာရေး
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SPHS
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
Std VII (D)
Saya U Nge’s Class SPHS63
Collegiate Scholarship Winners
SPHS63 SPHS Badges
Badge 1 
Badge 2 
Badge 3 
Blazer Coat with Badge Mg Mg Kyi
- Highest marks in Chemistry for HSF Only exam in 1962
- 11th in Burma for Matric exam in 1963
- Chemical Engineering (Pulp & Paper Specialty) from Dresden University, Germany
- Passed away in Wales, UK
Mg Mg Kyi Kyaw Phone Myint / Victor Kyaw Phyo
- (Early) Organizer, Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65
- Spouse : Hta Cho (Wun)
Kyaw Wynn
Birthday He offered birthday soon kyway to Uzin Okkantha (Victor, Aung Chaw) and treated his former classmates (some of whom have not seen each other for a long time). The attendees include :
- Aye Ngwe (Edwin)
- Kyaw Win (“Birthday Boy”)
- Khin Maung Bo (Alan, EP69)
- Hla Min (EC69)
- Uzin Okkantha (Aung Chaw, Victor, C69)
- Than Win (M69)
- Aung Kyi (Arthur)
- Tin Tun (M69)
- Khin Maung Zaw (Frank Gale, IM1 70, UK)
SPHS Novice Crew at RUBC
- Maung Maung Kyi (Bow, GBNF)
- Hla Min (No. 2)
- Kyaw Win (No. 3, EE)
- Willie Soe Mg (Stroke, GBNF)
- Myint Thein (Cox, SPHS 62, B.Com 66, GBNF)
We were all awarded Full Green.
When the schools were closed following the first Anniversary of 7th July, Kyaw Win and Maung Maung Kyi applied for scholarships to study in Germany.
Maung Maung Kyi received Dip Ing in ChE. He worked at Sittaung Paper Mill and PPIC before moving to Wales, UK.
Kyaw Win had a higher calling. He and his friends protested in front of the Burmese Embassy. The higher authorities were alarmed at their movement and recalled back to Burma. Fortunately, he was able to complete his EE in Rangoon.
GBNF
The list include
- Allan Saw Mg (Khin Mg Ni, EP69)
- Aung Khin
- Aung Kyi (Arthur)
- Dr. Aung Thwin (Alfred)
- Uzin Aung Chaw (Victor, C69)
- Aung Thu Yein (Brownie, EC69, 13th in Burma)
- Dr. Freddie Ba San (Myo San, 3rd in Burma)
- Dr. Freddie Sein
- Gilbert Thaw (Min Thaw, EP)
- Uzin Patrick Ba Maung
- Dr. Maung Maung Aye
- Maung Maung Kyi (11th in Burma)
- Shwe Zan Aung
- Sydney Khant
- Tin Tun (M69)
- Willie Soe Maung (Myint Soe, BDS 1st Batch)
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Memories of a Lifelong Learner
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
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 Technology1965 Summer
Inlay Luyechun CampI 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 19651969 December
Poem for 5th SEAP GamesBurma 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 GamesMid 1970s
Universities’ Computer Center (UCC), RangoonThe 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 Campus1999 April to 2025
Chief Editor of RIT Alumni International Newsletterhttps://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 Silanandabhivamsa2010 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 Singapore2012 December
Saya Pu Zaw Pwe at Gyogone Campus
SPZP-2012 ပွင့်လင်းခေတ်
2012 မှာ ကျင်းပခဲ့ တဲ့ ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ
SPZP-2012: True Home ComingHMEE (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 Book2013
RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
RUBC 2013 — ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ် လှေလှော်အသင်း ရဲ့ နှစ် 90 ပြည့် အထိမ်း အမှတ်စာစောင်
RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine2014 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 20142016 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 Min2019 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 CampusSPHS
Std VI (D)
Saya U Pe Tin’s Class -
Mg Mg Kyi & Rimon Than
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
Mg Mg Kyi
- Eldest son of Dr. Mg Mg and Daw Kyi Kyi
- Matriculated from St. Paul’s High School in 1963. Stood 11th in the whole of Burma and won Collegiate Scholarship.
- Joined Rangoon Universities’ Boat Club. Our Paulian crew — Mg Mg Kyi, Hla Min, Kyaw Win, Willie Soe Mg and Myint Thein (cox) — was Senior Novices Runners-up in the Monsoon Regatta. All became RUBC Full Green.
- Rangoon University was closed citing security concerns after the protests of the 1st Anniversary of 7th July. Mg Mg Kyi and Kyaw Win applied for Government Scholarship to study Engineering at Dresden University.
- Mg Mg Kyi received the Masters (equivalent) in Chemical Engineering with specialization in Pulp and Paper.
- He worked for PPIC (notably Sittang and Yay Ni Paper Mills).
- He found his love Khin May Than (Che72). They raised two sons — Rimon Than & Khemar Than.
- The family moved to Wales, UK.
Dr. Rimon Than
Rimon - Elder son of U Maung Maung Kyi and Daw Khin May Than.
- Medical Doctor / Specialist
- Experienced Mountain Climber
- Squadron Leader in Royal Aut Force
- Accomplished “Rescue Team Leader”.
- Sadly, he passed away on February 15, 2013 during a mountaineering training in Scotland due to an avalanche.
See BBC news at
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/…/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-214690…>.
- Mg Mg Kyi and Khin May Than were visiting Yangon at the time. They had to fly back to Wales to attend the funeral service with military honors.
Ogmore by the sea
- Mg Mg Kyi and Khin May Than were deeply hurt by the untimely loss of their elder son.
- Their younger son (Dr. Khemar Than) moved back from Japan to be close to his parents.
- MMK and KMT gave their house to Khemar, and moved to Ogmore-by-the-sea.
- MMK invited me to see his new home.
Visit to Wales
In 2017, we visited UK.
My cousin nephew Dr. Khin Tun (Peter) drove us to Wales to visit Mg Mg Kyi and Khin May Than at their new home Ogmore-by-the-sea.
See the posts about the mini-gathering.
Maung Maung Kyi Updates
- Dr. “Peter” Khin Tun (MRCP, Former Associate Dean of Oxford University) was a victim of Covid-19 and the lax Guidelines of NIH. He passed away on April 13, 2020. The news and TV coverage about the sad story led to reevaluation of procedures and support for NIH doctors and staff combating Covid.
- Maung Maung Kyi passed away peacefully in November 2024. His younger sisters — Dr. Kyi Kyi Hla, Daw Khin Thitsar and Dr. Khin Sabai — performed Soon Kwyay Dana for the 1st Anniversary of Maung Maung Kyi’s demise.
Soon Kyway Memories
Khin Sabai, Khin May Than & Mg Mg Kyi 
Top Matriculates from SPHS 1963 
SPHS Std VIII (A) 
Mg Mg Kyi 1 
Mg Mg Kyi 2 -
Htay Lwin Nyo
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
Highlights
- Matriculated from St. Paul’s High School in 1968
- Admitted as a Top Student to Rangoon Institute of Technology
- Selected RIT Luyechun (Outstanding Student)
- Graduated with B.E (Electrical Power) in 1974
- Studied M.Sc (Computer Science) at UCC
- Received Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, USA
- Last job was Part-time Teacher at EE Dept, San Jose State University
- Passed away at his home (See Newspaper)
- Per request from SJSU, the Burmese Community in the SF Bay Area helped with the Last Journey of HLN
- I wrote a Tribute to HLN. (See Poem)
- I had the honor to start the Incinerator, and later help scatter HLN’s ashes at Santa Cruz. (See my posts in BAPS Newsletter and ex-RIT web site).
LYC Sad News
News My Tribute
Tribute to Dr. HTAY LWIN NYO (EP74, ex-ucc)
Part-time Professor, EE, SJSU
(1951 July – 2000 April)
H e was a genius, a researcher, a friend
T eaching was his passion to the very end
A jack of all trades, a doctorate of one
Y ou name it, he knows it! there’s a lot he has done
L ong ago he gave away a patent for a dollar
W ith a heart so big and true, real worthy of a scholar
I nvest, movie script, cook, paint, car repair, …
N ever showed off wealth and prizes; he’s a gem so rare
N ews of his death — alone at home — rocked throughout the land
Y oung, old were shocked, but they all flocked to give a helping hand
O n this day in May of Y2K we pray from the bottom of our heart
“Htay Lwin Nyo, we’re proud to say
that though you’ve passed away
you’ve done a huge part
to unite kindred spirits
your legacy is here to stay.”
Memories
BAPS Newsletter 
HLN 1 
HLN 2 
-
Sad News from Jan 2017
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
Tommy Shwe (GBNF)
Alumnus of RIT
- Matriculated from St. Albert’s High School, Maymyo in 1964
- Admitted as Roll No 2 (in order of merit among Matriculates) to 1st BE at Rangoon Institute of Technology
- Represented RIT in Badminton
Taiwan & USA
- Completed three Masters
- Entrepreneur
- Supporter of Education
Untimely Demise
- Victimized by a handyman that he had helped
- Reported in Los Angeles Times
LAT 1 
Tommy Shwe 
LAT 2 
LAT 3 
LAT 4 
LAT 5 
LAT 6 
LAT 7 -
December 1920 (Talk)
by Hla Min
Updated : Nov 2025
Video Broadcast
Rangoon University In December 1920, there were three significant events.
- On December 1, 1920, Rangoon University was established with Rangoon College and Judson College as the constituent colleges. The colleges are also known by other names (e.g. Government College, Baptist College)
- On December 5, 1920, the First RU Students’ Strike took place. They protested the 1920 Rangoon University Act as too narrow and restrictive.
- On December 26, 1920, Saya U Ba Toke was born as a Phwa Bet Taw of the above two.
Rangoon University (RU)
- Initially had three Faculties and eight departments (including Law)
- Initially had six professors
- RU gradually extended its offerings (beyond Science and Arts)
- The opening of engineering classes was planned around 1923 and executed in 1924.
- In 1927, the first batch of engineering students (who had Bachelors degree) graduated with the “accelerated courses” option.
- In 1928, the second batch of engineering students (who joined after finishing the I.Sc.) graduated.
- RU was closed from 1942 to 45.
RU Silver Jubilee was celebrated much later (and without high key). - RU celebrated the Golden Jubilee (GJ) in 1970. Dr. Aung Gyi (Professor of Civil Engineering) and U Thet Lwin (Burmese saya at the Institute of Economics) were some of the GJ organizers. The RIT Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins took part in the GJ Entertainment Program as “Swel Daw Yeik Troupe“.
The term “Swel Daw Yeik” became synonymous with RIT [its predecessors and its successors]. Swel Daw Yeik Ah Nyeint (စွယ်တော်ရိပ်အငြိမ့် with Minthamees မင်းသမီး and Lu Shwin Daws လူရွှင်တော်), Htee Yein (ထီးယိမ်း RIT Belles with colorful Parasols) and Da Bin Daing Ah Ka (တပင်တိုင်အက) were hits at the GJ celebration.
I was a volunteer member of the “Zay Nay Yar Cha Hta Yay” subcommittee headed by Saya U Hla Tun Aung (Geography). Those who applied for stalls and/or stage included Actor Maung Maung Tar (promoting his make up) and the then amateur band “Playboys” requesting a high stage (for security concerns). - RU celebrated the Diamond Jubilee in 1995.
- RU celebrated the “Yar Pyie Ah Kyo” in December 2019. The opening song was “Mya Kyun Nyo” composed by Maung Ngwe Hlinne (Saya U Thet Lwin).
- RU Centennial Celebrations were planned for November and December of 2020.
Due to the pandemic, many events were held virtually.
Kyemon and Myanar Ah Lin newspapers featured articles about RU. The TV stations featured interviews, songs …
First RU Students’ Strike
- Eleven “senior” students led the Boycott of the Rangoon University Act of 1920.
- They were unhappy with the restrictions of the RU Act and decided to hold a boycott (strike) on December 7, 1920.
- Due to a news leak, the protests were moved to December 5, 1920.
- The strike resulted in the establishment of Amyotha Kyaung (National Schools) and Amyotha Kaw Leik (National College). The event is celebrated as Ah Myo Tha Aung Pwe Nay (National Day).
The Burmese date (10th Waning day of Tazaungmon) is used for the Celebration. - Arzani U Razak was an early graduate of the National College. He served as Principal of a National School in Mandalay. He became Minister of Education in Bogyoke Aung San’s cabinet.
- Prime Minister U Nu, United Nations Secretary General U Thant and Ahmyotha Pyinnya Wun / Educator / Writer U Po Kyar are notable sayas from the National Schools.
- The boycott was responsible for the amendments to the RU Act. e.g. opening of schools for engineering and medicine,
- A pillar was set up on Shwe Dagon Pagoda in memory of the Boycott.
Sayagyi U Ba Toke (Dec 26, 1920 – Dec 2, 2020)
- He is one of the oldest and senior sayas. Some senior sayas (e.g. Daw Hla May / Anne Sine) passed away in early 2020.
- Received A.M (Master of Arts in Mathematics) from Harvard University.
- Served as Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer and Professor of Mathematics at RU and RASU.
- Promoted to Rector, MASU.
- With his own volition, he transferred to RIT as Professor of (Engineering) Mathematics.
- As a Saya of engineering sayas (e.g. Dr. Aung Gyi, U Min Wun and U Khin Aung Kyi), he was invited to attend SPZP-2000 and give a speech.
- Saya attended all SPZPs except SPZP-2002 (which he had to forgo due to Sayagadaw’s health).
- Played Chinlon and Soccer.
- Co-chair of RU Sports Council
Managed the Soccer program. - Headed the Burmese delegation to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
- Until his 80s, Saya was active
(e.g. walk to Shwe Dagon Pagoda with his dhamma friends). - In his 90s, Saya had physical limitations, but his mental faculty was strong as ever.
- Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (Tekkatho Maung Thin Char, GBNF) interviewed Saya.
Sayama Daw Myint Myint Khaing (daughter of Arzani Mahn Ba Khaing) transcribed the tapes. The book covering Sayagyi’s Life Journey was published by the RU Thin Char Mi Thar Su for Sayagyi’s 80th birthday. - Sayagyi gave me an autographed copy.
Two Sayagyis
U Ba Toke & U Ba Than - Pu Zaw Pwe (PZP) — paying homage to mentors — is a noble tradition. They are also known as Saya Pu Zaw Pwe and Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe.
- There have been micro-PZPs, mini-PZPs and grand PZPs.
- Saya U Ba Than (born on October 2, 1930) usually visits and pay homage to his saya Sayagyi U Ba Toke at least once every year.
Paying homage to Sayagyi U Ba Toke
- During my visits to Yangon, I paid homage to Sayagyi U Ba Toke.
- On one visit, Sayagyi gave me an autographed copy of “Life Journey of Mathematics Professor Sayagyi U Ba Toke”.
The book was written by Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (Tekkatho Maung Thin Char, GBNF) based on his interviews with Sayagyi U Ba Toke. It also covers the early Thin Char Sayagyis. The book was published by Rangoon University Thin Char Mi Thar Su for Sayagyi’s 80th birthday.
- In January 2017, Pansy Ba Toke (Thynn Thynn, ChE 74) asked her son-in-law and daughter to pick up Sayagyi U Ba Than, Saya U Tin Htut and me at Winner Inn to see her father Sayagyi U Ba Toke.
Sayagyi had some problems with mobility and vision, but his mind remains crisp and clear. - Pansy was a member of the Swel Daw Yeik “Htee Yein” at the Rangoon University Golden Jubilee in 1970.She has offered transportation to the Sayas who want to visit her father.
- Sayagyi sometimes defer celebrating his birthday so that his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren — far and near — could join the celebration.
- Sayagyi is pre-deceased by
his beloved spouse, his second son (Soe Win, 6th out of his 8 children) and his second daughter (Kitty, 3rd out of his 8 children)
U Ba Toke & family -
Soe Paing
by Hla Min
Updated : Oct 2025
U Soe Paing 
U Soe Paing & Daw Saw Yu Tint 
U Soe Paing, U & Mrs. Hla Min Name: U Soe Paing
Qualification: BS (Stanford), MS (Stanford), MSc. Computer Science (Southampton)
Department: Electrical Communications
Position: Assistant Lecturer, (Jan 1964 to March 1971)
Reason for Leaving: Joined Universities’ Computer Center in April 1971.Engineering Alumni: Attended First Year Faculty of Engineering, Rangoon University from June to December, 1958.
Reason for Leaving: Awarded State Scholarship to study in USA.Occupation: Data Processing Adviser (Retired)
Organization: United Nations
Updates
- Saya was my mentor at RIT and UCC.
- He offered me and Saya U Aung Zaw (UCC, GBNF) to be his co-authors. We wrote programming texts, manuals and guides.
- Saya was a prime mover to get the “RIT Alumni International Newsletters” and http://www-ex-rit.org started.
- Saya would mention that I am a “Shay Hmi; Nauk Hmi. ရှေ့မှီ၊ နောက်မှီ”
- Sayagadaw added: “Bay Hmi ဘေးမှီ as well’.
- Saya wrote articles for the RIT Newsletter and selected journals & magazines. They can be accessed via SCRIB-D
- He also gave an interview for MASTAA
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HlaMin 