Author: Hla Min (Lifelong Learner)

by Hla Min

Updated : Apr 2026

Brief Bio

• Matriculated from St. John’s Diocesan Boys High School.
• Attended Rangoon University.
• EC member of the Rangoon University Writers Club in 1959 – 60.
• Editor of the RUESU (Rangoon University Engineering Students Union) Annual Magazine.

• Graduated with Electrical Engineering in 1963
• Joined the Faculty at RIT (Rangoon Institute of Technology).
• Chief Editor of RIT Annual Magazine
• Chief Editor of the Hlyat Sit Sar Saung published by the RIT Electrical Engineering Association

• Wrote poems and articles for various magazines & journals
• Authored or co-authored five books
• Worked in Singapore and chaired two Saya Pu Zaw Pwes — SPZP-2002 and SPZP-2010 — in Singapore.
• He and his team published Commemorative Issues of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for three Saya Pu Zaw Pwes — SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007 and SPZP-2010 — in Singapore.
• After retirement, moved back to Yangon.
• Helped published Commemorative Issues of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for SPZP-2012, Shwe YaDu (in 2014) and SPZP-2016
• Founding member and Patron of SDYF (Swel Daw Yeik Foundation).
• Still writes poems and articles.

Literary Work

• Pen name : Tekkatho Moe War
• Mentor : Daung Nwe Swe
• Composed hundreds of Kabyars (poems). Some (e.g. Shwe YaDu Lann) took four days of contemplation.
  Composed some Kabyars “Let Tann” (extemporaneously)
• Published several books.
  Some are compilation of articles and poems.
• Editor for RUESU Magazine
• Chief Editor of the RIT Annual Magazines, Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung, Swel Daw Yeik Magazine, Hlyat Sit Sar Saung
• Columnist for Weekly Eleven Journal
• I translated some of saya’s poems and articles:
• Search for beauty
  posted in “Poetic Art Series”
• Bagan Heritage
  in honor of recognition by UNESCO
• Shwe YaDu Lann
  for the RIT Golden Jubilee
• To the Shwe Duo
  in memory of Saya U Tin Shwe (EP66) and Saya U Hla Shwe (T69)
• Kabyar Let Saung
  A precious gift
• Computer in my heart
• …
• Sea of Men
  

Kabyar Let Saung

by Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War)
Translated by Hla Min

String of attachment — then in its infancy
grew beyond proportion — on her birthday
to express my deepest feelings — while courting her
I gave “Sho Whet The Pho” (Mystery/Thriller) Magazine
as a birthday gift to my beloved.

We shared our metta
with true devotion

I presented a golden ring
to my yee-sar as a birthday gift.

Hand in hand we entered the “married” land
on her birthday past the Honeymoon
I presented Goya fragrance as a birthday gift

Traveling together
Often facing dark nights
Yonder looked thick and rough

Goal seemed distant [and not straight]
[Tired and] weary
[Often] look but could not see

Struggle just to keep alive
Despite the challenges I feel
I owe my beloved a nice birthday gift

But …
Precious jewels are out of reach
I can only offer a gift from my heart

Kabyar
inexpensive — not meaning to underrate her love

Will she accept as a priceless treasure?

___________________________________

RUESU

Dear Ko Hla Min,

Thanks to Saya U Soe Paing for his great endeavour in visiting the UCL (Universities’ Central Library) numerous times [in January 2012] to gather and record invaluable information relating to RIT (and BOC college of Engineering as well). And thanks to you for archiving all through your emails and keeping all RITians gelled together.

Only when did Saya U Soe Paing mention Engineering Students’ Magazines, that I happen to recall one Engineering Students’ Magazine in which I was part of it. That was in Academic Year 1960-1961. I was still an Electrical Engineering Student at that time (2nd year, or, by the present calling, 4th year). At Rangoon University (Main University) they had a University Students’ Union (in Burmese, Thud Meg-ga is translated as Union), and we had correspondingly an Engineering Students’ Union as well at our Faculty of Engineering at Leik-Khone (Dome), Prome Road.

At that time I met one Ko Hla Tin (Civil) who was my senior and several years older than me, staying at Prome Hall which was adjacent to Leik Khone, only separated by a fence. He was an avid poet (pen name Kay-tu Win Tint, from Taunggoo) and I used to visit his room at Prome Hall to talk about poems and literature during lunch or break times. I also met one senior (can’t recall his name, I think Ko Sein Hlaing) who was the Secretary of the Students’ Union. After some lively discussions, we decided to issue an Engineering Students’ Union Annual Magazine and they made me the Chief Editor. The Magazine consisted of two sections, Burmese and English, of which Saya U Aung Khin (Mech) was the English Editor.

I still have the 1960-61 issue neatly tucked in a cupboard in Yangon.

Now I remember that Ko Sein Hlaing (EE?) is still in Yangon, helping to look after his grand children, but not in good health. Ko Sein Hlaing’s daughter was my daughter’s very close friend since their childhood days. We met once in Singapore about 12 years back.

Dear Ko Hla Min, this is the time to reminisce and be happy about the good old days and try to fly back with whatever time machine we could get hold of. Time really flies and we should realize that our days are numbered.

Moe Aung

___________________________________

“ရွှေ နှစ် ရွှေ သို့ “

ရွှေနှစ်ရွှေ…..

ဝေတော့လည်း တူ

ကြွေတော့လည်း အတူတူ

ငြူစူခြင်း ကင်း

မျှဉ်းမျှဉ်း အသက်ရှူ

စိုက်ထူမှတ်တိုင်

မယိမ်းယိုင်ခဲ့…..

မနိုင်ဝန် ပိ

အလှည့်သင့်လာ

သောအခါ မှာ

ခန္ဓာအမွေ

ကြွေသာ ကြွေလည်း

မသေ ဝိညာဉ် ဝဲပျံနေသေးတကား ….။ ။

( ကိုတင်ရွှေ- လျှပ်စစ်စွမ်းအား နှင့် ကိုလှရွှေ- ချည်မျှင် သို့)

တက္ကသိုလ် မိုးဝါ

(၂၆ ဇန္နဝါရီ ၂ဝ၁၅ – ည ၉:၅၅ နာရီ)

To The SHWE Duo

Poem by Tekkatho Moe War
Translation by Hla Min

SHWE duo
Blossom in unison
Disappear together
Free from complaint
Even with thin breath
Showed mark [of courage and wisdom]
Never wavered …
Pressed by burden
At the awaited turn [of journey’s end]
Body — inheritance [from previous lives]
Succumbs [to failing health]
Yet, “Wei-nyin” is fresh, alive and hovering.

Translated by Hla Min

___________________________________

Shwe YaDu Lann

Shwe YaDu Lann

Poem by Tekkatho Moe War
Translation by Hla Min

Shwe YaDu Lann
Let it be rough [but it’s tough]. Flowers are blossoming again.
Fear not the summer
Care not the rain [drops]
or the thick fogs & darkness
or if winter’s not true to its form

Shwe YaDu Lann
Let it be rough. No gentle stream flowing
Fear not high winds
Care not dense clouds
Topsy turvy [come what may]
Can paddle upstream
With strong mind & conviction
Place where heroes [Thu Ye Kaungs] are produced.

Swel Daw Myaing Dann
Shwe YaDu Lann
is a start [of a journey]
To raise the Banner loftily
to the skies, to the Zenith
displaying our thitsar (vow of truth and integrity)

HLA MIN (Editor, Newsletter Updates, USA)

___________________________________

The (Hidden) Power of Kabyar

Kabyar is animate
But [it’s life is] not just a [fleeting] morn

Kabyar is a weapon
But not for destroying the world

Kabyar is key
For liberation and independence
But not devoid of principles [and morals]

Kabyar has power
Hidden but efficient & effective
Like sharp-pointed spear-head
Can thrust into [the heart of] a power-maniac
Cause trembling, shivering, throbbing & anguished pain

Poem in Burmese by Tekkatho Moe War (Saya U Moe Aung)
Translated by Hla Min

Memories