During our RIT days, he was a super energetic organizer and a prime mover. As a member of the Gold Flake Cigarette Family, he inherited business acumen and organization skills.
Co-founded “Set Hmu Thadizin Zin စက်မှုသတင်းစဉ်”. Typing and drawing on stencil paper were not easy, but he spent time crafting the stencils into the revered weekly Thadinzin.
Vice President, RIT Mechanical Engg Association. Co-founded Magazine for the Association.
Suggested to name the main gate as “U Lu Paw Gate ဦးလူပေါ ဂိတ်” after the famous cartoon character from “Burma Star”.
Organized mini-festivals for freshers and junior students.
Graduated in 1967 with Mechanical Engineering
Worked for Sittaung Paper Mill and PCIC.
Founded “Ya Tha Cho”.
Did not live long enough to see SPZPs, SDYF, RITAA, HMEE & Shwe YaDu.
Remembering U Win Thein
The following remembered his contributions well.
U Tin Maung Aye (M69) : Member of RIT Ah Nu Pyinnya Troupe, Member of RIT Annual Magazine & Co-worker at PCIC. He gave us two photos of U Win Thein (one at RIT, one at PCIC)
U Aung Min (M69) : Chair of 69er Health Care Fund & Organizer for the Class of 69
U Thein Swe (EP69, GBNF) : 3rd BE Luyechun & Organizer of EE69er Gatherings
U Maung Maung Kyi (Dip Ing, Wales, GBNF) : Co-worker at Sittaung Paper Mill & PCIC
Sayama Daw Tin Tin Myint (Emma, ChE70, Singapore) : Co-founder of Dana Sri Lanka, Minthamee, Organizer of Singapore Pon Chan Chan Group
U Wynn Htain Oo (M72) : Super Fund raiser for RIT-related activities including SPZPs, YTU Library Modernization Project; Patron of RITAA
U Win Thein Zaw (Wai Lu) wrote : နာမည်ချင်းတူ၍သိခြင်း။ ကျောင်းသားချင်း Tuition ပေးခြင်း။ စစ်တောင်းစက္ကူစက်အုပ်စုဖြစ်ခြင်း။ မန္တလေးကုန်စည်ဒိုင်သို့ဆရာဦးလင်းနှင့်ရောက်လာခြင်း။ နေမကောင်းစဉ်ရန်ကုန်အိမ်တွင်တွေ့လိုက်ရခြင်းများကိုသတိရလျက်ပါကိုဝင်းသိန်းရေ
Updates
Mechanical Newsletters for 1968-69 to 1973-74 were scanned and archived in a CD by U Kyaw Thein and Daw Than Than Mu (1974 batch)
Worked briefly at Namtu mines before joining Electrical Engineeering Department at Rangoon University
Reunion
Saya of our sayas. His students include Saya U Sein Hlaing and Saya U Tin Swe
Requested C Ping Lee (father of Dr. Win Aung M62) to join EE department. HE U Than Aung asked Saya C Ping Lee (his former student at SPHS) to head Technical & Vocational Training Directorate and to improve curriculum (e.g GTI).
President of RIT Electrical Engineering Association
RIT EE Association
Patron of Hlyat Sit Sar Saung Committee
Hlyat Sit Sar Saung
Taught “Principles of Electrical Engineering” to non-engineering students. Sayas who later taught the course include Sayas U Myo Kyi & U Moe Aung.
Told a class that suitors of his lovely daughters must be doctors (medical or Ph.D). Anecdote was recounted by “Doctor” Tin Aung Win (spouse of Dorothy Kyaw Tun) for SPZP-2000. Saya’s elder daughter Elizabeth (Dr. Daw Tin Nu) has a Doctorate in English.
After retirement, Saya visited Australia
Passed away peacefully in Yangon
Spouse passed away during our RIT days. We attended her memorial service at Saya’s home.
Updates
Several EE sayas are GBNF.
For SPZP-2010, I wrote “A Sad & Short Clip : EE Sayas”.
President of Swel Daw Yeik Foundation; Hosted lunch meetings
Major donor for SDYF
Donated to Alumni Association for YTU Library Modernization
Donated for the Entertainment Program of SPZPs & SDYF events
Provided Eye Care for eligible RIT sayas & sayamas
Sang SDYF theme song with Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War, Patron of SDYF). The song is not a transformation of Saya’s poem. It was a new composition. Ko Than Po (M75) helped with the music injection.
Attended the 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles.
Attended the Alumni Gathering in SF Bay Area.
Updates
Balance of the “Vision Care fund for RIT sayas & sayamas” was transferred to SDYF / Swel Daw Yeik Foundation
Daw Mya Mya Than ဒေါ်မြမြသန်း (ကွယ်လွန်) — ဆရာမ ငြိမ်း
Sayama Daw Mya Mya Than (EP68, GBNF)
Daw Mya Mya Than
U Soe Myint Lwin ဦးစိုးမြင့်လွင် (ကွယ်လွန်) — ဘော်လုံး
U Soe Myint Lwin (EP68) played Soccer for Burma, EPC and All Universities and Institutes; Patron of Women Soccer Federation; EC member of RIT EE Association
Soe Myint LwinRU Soccer
U Tun Aung ဦးထွန်းအောင် (Jeffrey, ကွယ်လွန်) — BASES
U Tun Aung / Jeffrey (EC68, GBNF) was a founding member and president of BASES
He passed away in Southern California
Tun AungJeffrey
U Saw Win ဦးစောဝင်း (ကွယ်လွန်)
U Saw Win (GBNF)
Saw Win
U Thein Zaw ဦးသိန်းဇော် (Joe, ကွယ်လွန်)
U Thein Zaw / Joe Chow / Ah Yoke passed away in Northern California
Thein Zaw
Dickey Paul (ကွယ်လွန်)
Dicky Paul passed away in Australia.
U Myo Myintဦးမျိုးမြင့် — လျှပ်စစ်စာဆောင်
U Myo Myint (EC68) was Associate Editor of Hlyat Sit Sar Saung published by RIT EE Association
Myo Myint
U Aung Khin ဦးအောင်ခင် — Gawpaka, BASES
U Aung Khin is an EC member of BASES and Gawpaka of selected monasteries in the USA
Aung Khin
U Min Maung ဦးမင်းမောင် Gawpaka
U Min Maung is Gawpaka of Seattle Monastery
မြို့ပြ Civil
U Myat Htoo ဦးမြတ်ထူး — ဆရာ ငြိမ်း၊
U Myat Htoo is a Founding member, RIT Alumni International; Organizer, SPZP-2000; Founding member & BOD Chair, NorCal RITAA
Passed away peacefully in June 2026
Myat Htoo
U Myint Soe ဦးမြင့်စိုး (ကွယ်လွန်) — ဆရာ ငြိမ်း
Saya U Myint Soe (C68, SPHS62, GBNF)
Myint Soe
U Tin Nwe / Milton ဦးတင်နွယ်
U Tin Nwe / Milton (C68, SPHS62) is Past President of BASES
Tin Nwe
C68 — Class Photo
C68
C68 — Status
21 in Myanmar
1 Monk
5 in USA
1 in UK
16 ယောက် ခန့် — ကွယ်လွန် GBNF (Gone But Not Forgotten)
List needs updating by a C68
GBNF
စက်မှု Mechanical
U Yu Swan ဦးယုစွမ် —ဒုံမင်း Don Min
Don Min U Yu Swan : Singapore
Yu Swan
U Khin Maung Nyo ဦးခင်မောင်ညို — ကြက်တောင်
U Khin Maung Nyo
Member of the RIT Badminton Team which won the Inter-Institute Trophy
U Ngwe Tun ဦးငွေထွန်း — Dio
U Ngwe Tun
Provided comments for several posts
ချည်ထည် Textile
U Khin Maung Lay ဦးခင်မောင်လေး (Henry)
U Khin Maung Lay / Henry
ပြေးခုန်ပစ်၊ Secretary, RIT Track and Field
ဘော်လုံး၊ RIT Soccer
လှေလှော်၊ RIT Rowing
President, BASES
Organizer, 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles
Khin Maung Lay
ဓာတု Chemical
ဦးအုန်းမောင် (Anthony) — ဆရာ ငြိမ်း
Saya U Ohn Maung / Anthony (ChE68, SPHS62, GBNF)
Passed away in Singapore
ပိသုကာ Architecture
Sai Yee Laik စိုင်းရီလိတ် (ကွယ်လွန်) — ဆရာ ငြိမ်း
Sai Yee Laik (A68, GBNF) was “First and Last” in his Class.
Worked for the company that won the Burmese Buddhist Temple project in Singapore.
Nicknames
Three female students were fondly called “Half Size”, “Full Size” and “Double Size”.
Ko Henry Khin Maung Lay was also known as “Kywe Gyi”.
During the early days of UCC, I was invited to give guest lectures at BMRI (Burma Medical Research Institute).
BMRI later became DMR (Directorate of Medical Research).
Dr. Nyunt Wai (Physiologist, SPHS63) provided details for the Director Generals of Medical Research
Dr. Mya Tu
Dr. Mya Tu (Physiologist) founded Burma Medical Research Institute (BRMI) and served as its Director. Saya passed away at the age of 91 in Australia. Dr. Thein Htut and Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint spoke at the service.
Daw Khin Thet Hta (Jenny) is Saya’s wife. She has a Doctroate in Library Science.
They co-authored “Who’s Who in Health and Medicine in Burma/Myanmar” (Two editions).
There was an attempt to update it, but did not happen.
Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint e-mailed me a soft copy of “Who’s Who in Heath and Medicine (in Burma/Myanmar)” (Second edition). He referred to the work as Magnum Opus.
Director General
Dr. Aung Than Ba Tu (ATBT, Physician) He is around 90 years of age. He is still active, giving talks and participating in the editorial team of a certain journal.
Dr. ATBT & Dr. Khin Kyi Nyunt
Dr. Khin Maung Tin (Physician) He is a specialist for live diseases. In the early days, he headed the University Sanatorium. He is one of the earliest to pass away (Heard it was a heart attack). He is survived by Dr. Daw Htay Kyi, a TB specialist.
Dr. KMT
Dr. May May Yi (Physiologist) She was a Staff at the Luyechun Camp at Inlay Khaung Daing for the summer of 1965.
Dr. May May Yi (Center)
Dr. Myint Lwin
Dr. Than Swe (Microbiologist) After retirement, moved to the USA Stay sharp by training students to take SAT examination
Dr. Paing Soe Was admitted as Roll Number (2) to MC in 1965. He had the same marks as Dr. Yi Thway, who was admitted as Roll Numbe (1). Retired as Deputy Minister of Health.
Sponsors include BADA, BAWA, Citizen of Burma Award, …
Date : September 15, 2018
Time : 5pm – 9+ pm
Place : Swiss Park, Newark, CA
Aw Pi Kyeh
APK 1APK 2
Aw Pi Kyeh (Win Naing) is from the Class of M81. There were three classmates named Win Naing. Michael (Win Naing) later became President of BASES.
As “Mann Bei” မန်းဘဲ he contributed and managed the RIT Cartoon Box.
He served as Secretary of the RIT Cartoon Association.
He spoke about “Made in Myanmar”. He pointed out that his dress is made from neighboring countries. He lamented the loss of countless lives in Cyclone Nargis due to “insufficient knowledge” (e.g. about Disaster Recovery). His talk combines wit, and philosophy.
During his study at Harvard, he proudly spent US$30 to buy a backpack labeled “Made in Myanmar”. His friend bought a similar backpack but labeled “Made in Sri Lanka”. The seam of his back pack broke after a week. Before his return to Myanmar, his friend gave him his backpack. He felt mad, but accepted it. He went on to use the backpack in Myanmar until it got discolored and his spouse asked him to stop using it.
The message is that one not only needs Cetana but also the skills to provide “added advantage”. He gave examples of how others (nations and their companies) used our natural resources and our local talents to create products (and often sell them back at profit).
He also requested those overseas to use “conversion” to understand the “thinking” of those living in Myanmar (possibly most of their lives) as a baby step to help making “Made in Myanmar” proud and reliable.
Min Ko Naing
Min Ko Naing is the pen name of Paw Oo Tun (author, artist, student activist …).
He was a 3rd year student at RASU, when he became a student leader of the 8-8-88 movement.
He visited the San Francisco Bay Area a few years ago and talked about the injustice system and the brutal regimes.
He gave a talk for the SF Bay Area Annual Talks 2018 along with Aw Pi Kyeh.
There were some anecdotes about prison life. One political prisoner begged his prison mates to give him a pain reliever. Most people did not have courage to provide one. One had cetana and courage, but lacked medical knowledge. He gave Buspro to the wailing prisoner, who was relieved of pain forever.
He recounted his observations of the educational and social systems of the countries that he had visited.
He was impressed with some systems which take the nursery children out into the open and teach lessons from nature, and those that allow students to pursue any combination of subjects provided they envision a problem to solve using the mix.
He lamented about how most parents and students in Myanmar prepare at all costs for that “all important Matriculation exam” to pursue two or three high profile professions.
The talk is more suitable for the general audience in Myanmar.
Kudos to the activist turned evangelist for critical thinking and social change.
Dr. Thynn Thynn wrote : Good observations Ko Hla Min…. I think he was trying to convince that the children in Burma deserve the benefits of open education system the children of the expat audience whom he had tried to seek support for the help of expat Burmese youth community to go in to Burma to help or some sort of set an example for those underprivileged kids in side the country. The talk was only half of what he came to say I think.
Dr. Nyunt Wai wrote : Good to know two of you are good friends. Converging point for technical and medical streams?
Trip to Los Angeles
The hosts choose the first talk to be held in Northern California and the final talk to be held in Southern California.
I had the chance to meet Aw Pi Kyeh twice and to meet Min Ko Naing thrice.
U Yu Ket (Edward Saw, EC85) gave me a ride to Los Angeles. Saya U Tin Htut hosted me and took me to two events :
Annual dinner of BASES (as his guest)
La Peunte monastery, which had a festival in the morning and the literary talk by Aw Pi Kyeh and Min Ko Naing in the afternoon.
La Puente Monastery
Saya bought a book and received an autographed copy.
Aw Pi Kyeh told us that he did not drink during the Waso, but that he would resume drinking in a few days (at the end of the Buddhist Lent).
Literary Talk at the YSE Fund raiser
The Youth Society of Education invited two guest speakers at their Fund Raiser.
Myinmu Naing Moe
Myinmu Naing Moe (Ohn Maung) is a poet, vocalist, author and publisher.
He is a National Literary Award winner.
He gave a literary talk on “His life and his Kabyas (Poems)”.
He talked about “Su-Tu-Pyu” paradigm proposed by Sayagyi Minthuwun.
He gave the background of his early school life, the sacrifice of his beloved mother, a story from Buddha’s time, Saya Zawgyi’s poems, and then recited poems.
NAPA (in Northern California) is known for its fine wineries.
Gordon Kaung (M83), founder of Mechanical Solutions, extended his entrepreneurship by co-founding iNapa Winery with his spouse Lillian (EC83).
iNapa Winery has hosted several RIT gatherings.
Gathering in 2015
It was a follow up to the 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles to welcome Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi & Daw Emma, Saya U Win Kyaw (Met71), Saya U Nyunt Htay (Met73) and selected guests.
Saya U Myat Htoo (C68) and Ma Ku / Daw Hnin Maung Maung drove Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi & Daw Emma from LA to SF Bay Area.
iNapa Winery hosted lunch and dinner gathering. Ko Thiri Nyunt (Met) played Gordon’s keyboard and sang.
Fundraiser Kyan Yay (Sugar Cane Drink) Htamane Food & Desserts
BAP Booth selling Sugar Cane Drink
Annual Dinner & Entertainment
Trips
Helped 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles
2015 Reunion 12015 Reunion 22015 Reunion 3
Active in Activities sponsored by SCBA (Southern California Burmese Associations)
Notes
Many members are RIT alumni. Some volunteered for SPZP-2000 held in San Francisco.
U Aung Khin (EP68) is Past Vice President
James Shwe (M76) is a Donor and EC.
U Khin Maung Lay (Henry) served as Emcee for BAPS gatherings and 2015 Alumni Reunion. He was Secretary of RIT Track & Field Association. He represented RIT in Soccer, Rowing and T&F. He loves Cooking.
I attended BASES gatherings as Guest of EC and/or Saya U Tin Htut.
Mra Tun (UCC, TAMPS) and Ricky Zaw are guitarists & vocalists. Ricky’s sister is Nyunt Nyunt Zaw (T68, GBNF).
2015 Reunion
NorCal RITAA invited selected BASES EC to the gatherings.
When the Korean War erupted in 1950 with the USA and China as the main protagonists, I was a child [probably too young to comprehend the details], but the interest in the war and its impact intensified as I grew older. Imperial Japan ruled Korea from 1910 to 1945. At the end of the Second World War, USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) declared war on Japan [supposedly] with the aim of dividing Korea. With the approval of the US, the Soviet Union claimed North of the 38th Parallel. The USA took control of South Korea. Japan conceded defeat and left Korea.
The conflict between the Governments of North Korea and South Korea escalated into a full-scale war. With the backing of the Soviet Union and China, the North Korea army invaded South Korea in June, 1950. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned the invasion and passed a resolution to defend South Korea. Twenty one nations (including US) sent forces to defend South Korea.
About two months – in the early phase of the war – South Korean forces suffered losses and had to retreat. Then, the counter attacks of the UN forces were able to “severe” the connections of the North Korean fighting units. In the middle of 1951, China sent forces to aid the North Korean army. UN forces retreated.
I am not trying to describe the Korean War in detail. I want to emphasize the intensive use of man power to engage in traditional combat. Note that there were occasional uses of bombers. During the three years (June 25th 1950 to July 27th 1953), there was a huge number of dead, wounded, POW (prisoners of war), and MIA (missing in action). The following statistics show the ghastly nature of the war. Note that only South Koreans are accounted for “South Korea & the 21 nations sent by UN”.
South Korea 178,426 Dead 566,434 Wounded & POW
North Korea 300,000 (estimate) Dead 303,000 Wounded; 120,000 POW
China 400,000+ (estimate) Dead 486,000 Wounded; 21,000 POW
Civilian Casualty 2.5 million South Koreans 1.5 million North Koreans
(2)
From the list of casualties, we can clearly see the striking amount of dead and wounded for both soldiers and civilians. In particular, China – the most populated nation in the world – is estimated to have 900 thousand dead and wounded. Imagine, how many soldiers China must have sent to help North Korea. The News Media of that time coined the phrase “Sea of men” to describe the Chinese army battling the Korean War. One can envision the mass of fighters as an vast open sea.
We have witnessed two “Sea of men” in our mother land. We saw the first Sea in 1988. We are seeing the second Sea now [in 2015]. The poem “Sea of men” was written in September 1988, but it was censored. One does not need to think twice to guess why I wrote the poem.
SEA OF MEN
Water – drop by drop
countless drops assemble
as a water flow
Water flows – collectively
rushing, hustling, bustling –
transforming into a stream
From streams
to twisting, turning and winding rivers
to the whorl of the sea
Very long and broad – vast expanse
waves – agitated by winds – rise high
with grudge and anger
to put down [intruders]
It’s SACCA (“Thitsar” – Truth of nature)
[Rower] holding an oar
thrusting into the water
hoping to harness the wave, but …
[Helmsman] on board a ship
with engine roaring
hoping to split the wave, but …
Only for a short while
the waves seem to loosen –
with sprinkles and sprouts
turn into vortex with immense power –
stronger than ever
One can never break up determined men
It’s SACCA (“Thitsar” – Truth of nature).
September 23rd, 1988
The current “Sea of men” is not for sending people to fight as in the Korean War. It is SACCA [“Thitsar” – Truth of nature] that people, who had to breathe for a long, long time polluted air and strive in an environment with degradation in economics, health, civics, ethics, and education, WOULD assemble VOLUNTARILY in the hope of breathing pure, clean air once again. Does not one like gentle breeze? Does not one want to enjoy fragrances that are carried by the breeze? Sad to note that some of the drains that are left uncleaned are making the air unfit to breathe. Worse still, the defamatory attacks by some have further degraded the air quality.
As the November, 2015 elections draw close, we see “Sea of men”. People truly want to understand and differentiate the ones who really care to upgrade the quality life of lay people, from those, who tend to ignore the people and care only for their own.
Updates
Saya Moe
Saya had medical problems, but he did not stop writing articles & kabyars.
Kabyar
Thanks Saya for your presents — books, magazines, sar saungs & pasoe
HlaMin 