When Rangoon University was established in December 1920, it had the Department of Law.
U May Aung served as the first Professor.
U May Aung
Barrister-at-law, LL.D
Professor of Law (1920 -1922)
Rakkhine national
Later : Home Minister
Daughter : Daw Mya Sein (Scholar)
Sir Arthur Eggar
Sir Arthur Eggar
Professor of Law (1923 – 1937)
Earlier served as Lecturer in the Maths Department at Rangoon College
Alumnus of Cambridge University
Author, Egg-Bairn Rowing Style
Legal Advisor in UK, Middle East & Burma
Founder (in 1923) & Life President, Rangoon University Boat Club
Pledged one third of his salary for the operation of RUBC
Wrote his autobiography (in three installments) for the Guardian Magazine in the mid 50s.
Several Old Members including me reprinted his autobiography for the 90th Anniversary of RUBC. YUBC OMA has copies of the autobiography. It could be of interest to Law students & practitioners.
Dr. Ba Han
Dr. Ba Han
Alumnus of Sorbonne University
Professor Law for two terms : (1937 – 1942) and (1946 – 1950)
Rangoon University was closed for a period during the war
Compiled a dictionary
Dr. Ba Maw (Adipati, former English Lecturer at RU) is his brother. Both brothers are B.O.B (Brothers’ Old Boys).
U Kyaw Myint
U Kyaw Myint
First in Burma in Matric exam with distinctions in all subjects from Central. He & Dr. Ba Than were selected by Mr. Matthew Hunter (Principal of Rangoon College) to take the entrance exam of Calcutta University. His beloved mother passed away. He requested the Principal that he wanted to pay last respect to his mother. The Principal warned that he would be expelled if he did not show up at the entrance exam. He attended his mother’s last journey and was punished with the expulsion from the College. Worse still, his father threatened to disown him. The story of U Kyaw Myint can be read in a series of blogs by his son Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint and re-printed in my web site hlamin.com
Professor of Law & Dean of the Faculty of Law (1950 – 1958)
Earlier : Justice of High Court & Supreme Court, Head of the Tribunal that tried Galon U Saw, Co-founder of a political party with Dr. Ba Maw.
Later : founded his law firm
Siblings : elder brother (ICS U Tin Tut), two younger brothers (U Myint Thein & Dr. Htin Aung), and three younger sisters (Daw Khin Mya Mu, Daw Khin Saw Mu & Daw Tin Saw Mu)
According to Dr. TOKM, his father U Kyaw Myint had full confidence in his students (e.g. Guardian U Sein Win, Sao Hso Holm, U Mya Thein).
Law Professors (for the later periods)
U Myint (1958 – 1961)
U Aung Khine (1961 – 1964)
U Hla Aung (1965 – 1971)
U Tin Ohn (1971 – 1986)
U Tin Aung Aye (1986 – 1994)
Daw Than Nwe (1994 – 2007)
Dr. Daw Khin Mar Yi (2007 – 2018)
Law Degrees
BL Generally taken after BA or BSc; Taken by several student leaders; Requirement for senior Police and Military Police Officers; Also taken by several BCS e.g. U Khin Maung Gyi, BA, BCS, BL
LLB Under the new Education System, e.g. Daw May Thi Kha (daughter of Saya Kha)
Master of Law e.g. LLM
Laws
They may vary with Place and Time
National Law
International Law
Constitutional Law
Maritime Law
Civil Law
Criminal Law
Religious Law (in some countries)
Intellectual Property Law
Miscellaneous
RU Centennial Celebrations by Law Department in March 2020
Law Practitioners Lawyers Advocates Judges … RL HGP Ad hoc (during a period of BSPP regime)
He visited Yangon to see his mother, elder sisters and Old Paulians.
His eldest sister, who was taking care of the mother, passed away unexpectedly. The mother followed soon.
U Khin Maung Zaw (“KMZ”, SPHS70, EC76)
KMZ (Right)
Attended St. Paul’s High School
Matriculated in 1970 from No. (6) Botahtaung SHS State High School (name of SPHS after nationalization in 1965)
Due to disturbances, the convocation for KMZ’s class took place in March 1977. For simplicity & consistency), we call his class as “Class of 76”.
Represented All Universities in Hockey and RIT in Rowing.
Hockey
Played as the last defender in the RIT Hockey Team. Many played for the University & All-Institutes Team. He coached Thura Thant Zin (goalkeeper). At RUBC, Thura coached KMZ.
Helped Maung Maung Hnyut & brothers (major players for the Graduation Photos).
Volunteered at UCC. He usually brought an empty lunch box and a spoon. Several friends and some “ah ma gyis” would provide him lunch.
Took courses at UCC, but flatly refused to do some assignments (e.g. COBOL).
Worked in Singapore and then migrated to US. He has been in the Seattle region since his arrival in the US.
KMZ in Seattle
When my company subsidized my vacation trip (for the successful completion of a project), we visited KMZ at his old house. He showed us around (including a day trip to Vancouver, Canada). He showed me his wine cellar. Since I do not drink, I ended up with his concoction (“ginger beer (or similar) with ice cream”).
Founding member of RIT Alumni International
We were lucky when we were planning for SPZP-2000. He was working four 10-hour week with the Technology and Architecture Group of Nordstrom (where he had time & luxury to play with several computer systems).
Accepted the call of Saya U Soe Paing (our mentor at UCC) and me to set up a web site for RIT sayas and alumni.
Designed and implemented the first RIT web site. He was then an eligible bachelor and had a three day weekend. He burned the midnight oil preparing for the SPZP-2000.
Promised SPZP-2000 attendees that he would work on Version 2.0 of the web site. Things changed. Had a wonderful job at Microsoft and also started a wonderful family. A busy schedule at work and at home meant that maintaining and extending the web site would no longer have the top priority. He longer had time for RIT Updates.
Visited SF Bay Area in March 2018 to attend the retirement soon kyway of Maurce Chee (M75). There was a pre-soon kwyay gathering at a Sea Food Restaurant in San Mateo.
Mailed me two books that he bought in Myanmar. One is “U Thant Ah Ye Ah Khin” by Htein Win (Photo). The other is a “tran-composition” of Saya Zaw Gyi’s poems about Pagan by Ah May Thar.
After retirement, he is doing forensics on his old desktops and PCs to recover albums, and articles.
Has provided tags and comments for my postings.
KMZ’s visit to SF Bay Area
U Khin Maung Zaw (SPHS71, EE77)
Per KMZ, the “other Khin Maung Zaw” is also from SPHS, 71 batch. He’s an active member & instigator of OPA (Old Paulians Association) as well as RIT Electrical 1971-77 group.
EE77 group donated Kyat 77 Lakhs collected mainly from the group towards the flood victims through Daw Khin Kyi foundation. Amazingly he was able to cajole exactly Kyat 77L to commemorate 1977 batch folks. Sadhu! Sadhu Sadhu!
Interesting enough he and KMZ overlap in several areas, SPHS, RIT including Hockey and Rowing at RIT,
U Khin Maung Zaw (T76)
Per Ko Myat Thein (Adam K Khan, EP76) :
There is another Khin Maung Zaw (whom I called Ngachate tayoke literally meaning Black Chinese because he has dark complexion) Class 76 Textile. We had very good conversations at D9 when we were final year students.
Son Myo Lynn Htay (Electrical Engineer) has two sons : Alyn and Daniel
Daughter Thuzar Kin Htay has two sons : Reed and Miles
Alyn, Dhaniel, Reed, Daw Mu Mu Kin, Miles
SF Bay Area RIT Alumni
Contributions
Leader, SF Bay Area RIT Alumni Group
SF Bay Area Alumni
Founding member & President, RIT Alumni International
SPZP-2000 Organizers
Organizer, SPZP-2000
His article, “Brother, can you afford US$500?” helped with Fund Raising of SPZP-2000 with five Golden Sponsors — Steeve Kay (Thaung Sein, EC70, GBNF), Benny Tan (Yu Beng, M70), David Ko (Tin Myint, M67, GBNF), Ivan Lee (Khin Maung Oo, M69), Maung Maung Than (M79) — and many donors.
Gatherings
A 1A 2A 3
Donation to YTU library
In memory of Saya Allen, Daw Mu Mu Kin donated books and book shelves to YTU Library.
Maurice Chee (M75) coordinated the shipment of Saya’s books.
D 1D 2D 3D 4D 5D 6D 7
Financial Aid for eligible YTU students
In memory of Saya Allen, Daw Mu Mu Kin provided Financial Aid for eligible YTU students.
NorCal RITAA and ARITA coordinated with the selection of students.
Thank you [HM
and KMZ] for all the updates. I enjoy reading them and can feel the
excitement and enthusiasm of the participants and the organizers. I wish
I could be there for the REUNION and visit my old haunts in the Bay
Area.
The least I can do is to contribute something about the Sayas who will be attending the SPZP-2000 Reunion. I would like to say something about Saya U Ba Toke and my friend Sayas Allen Htay and Ko Tin Maung Nyunt.
Saya U Ba Toke
U Ba Toke
I am very happy to hear that Saya U Ba Toke will be making the trip to the Bay Area. Saya U Ba Toke was our Math Saya in I.Sc.(A) at Yankin College in 1956 and I.Sc.(B) at Main University in 1957. He was a lecturer and Sayagyi U Kar who also taught us in 1957 was the Professor. He was a very good lecturer. I still cannot believe how he can write pages of notes on the blackboard in a very nice handwriting. I think he became Professor of Mathematics in 1958 when U Kar retired. I remember that in 1958 we had to request him for recommendations to apply for places in universities in the States. He gave me a great recommendation for which I am still very grateful. I met him again when he joined RIT as the Professor of Mathematics before I moved to UCC. The last time I saw him was some months back at the funeral of the father-in-law of Dr. Khin Maung Win (Met) and the father of Khin Than Nwe (T62).
Allen Htay
Allen Htay
Allen Htay was a brand new Saya when we joined the Engineering College in Leik Khone in 1958. I remember him teaching Engineering Drawing to the Chemical & Textile first year students like Khin Than Nwe (T62) and my high school friend Richard Than Se (ChE62). I met him again in August 1963 when we took the same ship SS Warickshire from Liverpool on the way back home.
Ko Tin Maung Nyunt
Tin Maung Nyunt
Ko Tin Maung Nyunt, Ko Ko Lay (UCC, GBNF), and Ko Than Pe (Chartered
Accountant, ADB) were also on the ship. We spent about two months on the
ship with about 4 weeks in Colombo. We played ping pong [table tennis]
and swam in the pool during the day. We played Bridge [card game] every
night after dinner with Ko Tin Maung Nyunt and Ko Ko Lay as partners and
myself partnering either Allen Htay or Ko Than Pe. We went on land at
Port Said (at the start of the Suez Canal), Port Sudan and Aden in the
Red Sea, and Colombo, Kandy and Nuwara Elyia in Sri Lanka. All of us
became very good friends.
On arrival home in 1963 Allen Htay
rejoined RIT in Gyogone. I was then assigned to the RIT Electrical
Engineering Department in January 1964. We were together again when Ko
Tin Maung Nyunt joined the Agricultural Engineering Department some
months later. Ko Tin Maung Nyunt was one of our regulars on the Saya
Football Team. We remained good friends as all of us stayed in the RIT
estate. Ko Tin Maung Nyunt then left for the US via Thailand. I joined
the UCC in 1971. Allen Htay then left for the US. The last time all of
us got together was in 1988 in the Bay Area.
I am also glad to
hear that my old colleagues from the EE Dept Ko Sann Tint (another Saya
Football Team regular) and Ko Sein Maung will be attending the reunion.
Please pass on my best regards to my Sayas, colleagues, friends,
students and all participants.
Congratulations to you, the organizers and to a successful REUNION.
Editor’s Notes
U Soe Paing was my mentor at RIT and UCC.
During my visits to Yangon, I paid respect to U Ba Toke. Sayagyi is a Phwa Bet of Rangoon University and the First RU Students’ Strike in December, 1920.
Saya Allen Htay (GBNF), Saya U Tin Maung Nyunt, U Ko Ko Aye (GBNF), Ko Thein Naing (Patrick) and I used to meet once a month.
Founded SysMagic with branches in Thailand & Singapore.
He was host during my first visit to Singapore.
He later moved to Yangon & Thailand.
U Ngwe Soe / Silver
Ngwe Soe (Right)
Worked for Systems Division at UCC.
After a brief stint as seafarer, he joined Siemens in Singapore.
He hosted me during my first and a later visit.
He & Nu Nu Yee (sister of U Khin Maung Thwe EE69er) took us to their home in Jahore. He drove us to Melecca.
He retired after working for various projects overseas.
Ngwe Soe (Center)
U Tin Aung Wynn
Ko TAW (Left)
Studied Masters in Computer Science at UCC.
Taught courses at UCC.
Moved to Singapore.
Taught Multi-media and other subjects at a Polytechnic.
Spouse Ma Wah is a doctor.
They hosted me in April 2007, when I attended SPZP-2007.
He co-organized lunch gatherings during my visits.
The photo was taken in 2019 when he took us to his home for home-cooked lunch.
U Zaw Tun
U Zaw Tun
Studied Masters in Computer Science at UCC
He & spouse Kyu Kyu Hlaing hosted us during our visits.
Rretired after managing Programming Projects for a shipping company.
Gawpaka of Singapore Chan Myei Yeiktha.
Daw Pale Shein
Seated : Pale, Kyu Kyu Hlaing & Pale’s GK
Studied Masters in Computer Science at UCC
Hosted me for part of my last trip. The stay was cut short when Covid hit some of her family members.
Organized sightseeing & gatherings
Ying (Sree Wunna Mangrai)
Studied Masters in Computer Science at UCC
She & her spouse invited us to a lunch gathering. We were joined by Ko Aye Kyaw.
UCC & ICST alumni
Met them at the gatherings (e.g Ko Zaw Tun’s house, Indian & Chinese restaurants, West Coast)
Some may have moved out of Singapore
In Alphabetical Order
Ko Aung Aung & Ma Kyin Mya
Ko Aung Khine Cho
Ma Aye Aye Than
Ko Aye Kyaw
U Boe Ba Shan & Daw Phyu Phyu Win
Ko Hla Min (Lay)
Ma Hpyu Hpyu Aung
Ko Khin Maung Aye
Ma Khin Myint Cho
Ko Kyaw Htay
Ma Myint Myint Thein
Ko Nay Myo Aung
Ma Nilar Thein
U Ngwe Soe & Daw Nu Nu Yee
Ma Pale Shein
Ma San Yi
Ko Shein Soe Myint (GBNF)
U Than Lwin & Daw Khin Swe Oo
Ko Tin Aung Win
Ko Tin Htun Saing
Ko Win Latt
Ying (Sree Wunna Mangrai)
Ko Zaw Tun
Veda
U Myint Sein (Principal of BARB, GBNF) requested me to develop computer programs for Veda.
I supervised the Veda projects by Ko Win Latt and Ko Zaw Tun.
Myint Sein
Ko Win Latt wrote Win Horo. The lowest version was used to generate natal horoscope. The higher versions were used by BARB sayas for advanced astrological calculations.
Ko Zaw Tun wrote a Prolog program for evaluating the Zartars. He was surprised when the zartar of a young (may be 2 year old) resulted in the prediction of a very person. He later learned that the child was a recipient of wealth from his Sawbwa grand father.
After receiving their M.Sc.(Computer Science), both taught computing at their private schools. They later moved overseas.
During my initial visit to Singapore, I stayed at Ko Win Latt’s apartment. He later spent in time in Bangkok and Yangon.
During my later visits, Ko Zaw Tun and Ma Kyu hosted us. They also organized ex-UCC gatherings.
Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ)
KMZ
Attended St. Paul’s High School. In 1965, SPHS was nationalized and became No. (6) Botathaung State High School. He matriculated in 1970.
Joined RIT and graduated with Electrical Communication. The option is known as EC, EcE & Electronics Engineering. Due to school closure, there were two convocations in 1977. Those from March 77 are called “Class of 76” (the intended year of graduation).
Played Hockey for “All Institutes” team.
Rowed for RIT at RUBC.
Spent a few years at UCC before moving to Singapore and then USA.
In 1999, he designed and implemented the first ex-RIT web site & served as its webmaster.
Alumnus of SPHS, RIT and UCC
KMZ wrote :
KJ, thanks much for posting these old stories, sharing with the rest. We really had many interesting and amazing characters there in those days. We, the three so-called musketeers, made things much more interesting, pushed the envelope so to speak. But thanks to all the Sayas – Saya Paing, Saya Myo, Saya Lay and seniors like you, UTAG etc, we were able to do whatever we felt like it there. I know for sure that we offended many people there, but with the great rapport and support from many of you, our mischievous acts, intentionally or not, were pretty much forgiven.Like I said a few times here, those were the good old days.I would like to thank all of you for what we did there, and sincerely ask for your forgiveness if we, especially myself, indeed offended any of you. I am indebted to all of you. Sayas, seniors, contemporaries, as well as some juniors, as I learned a lot while I was there.
U Tin Win
U Tin Win (Seated Right)
Taught at RIT EE before to Systems Division at UCC
Worked at Forest Reserve Inventory
U Tin Win wrote :
In my days in UCC, U TAG was CE and ICL computer’s printer was line printer and it could print only 120 char/line. To get 160 char/line, UTAG modified the line printer by joining the original plastic printer shaft with another short shaft. One day, he came to the engineering workshop and said he would modify it. First he cleaned the desk workplace where he would join the shafts. At that time, an apprentice engineer (Ko Khin Maung) came into the room and saw U TAG cleaning the desk. Then, KKM, shouted, “Whoo! .. actually modification of printer is just Cleaning the desk”.
Myint Myint Thein (Susan)
Susan & Ma Nge
Younger sister of U Win Htein (PWD, GBNF), who was in charge of the maintenance of electrical equipment at UCC
Early DAC (Diploma in Automatic Computing)
Worked at FERD at National Planning before moving to Singapore
After retirement, she moved back to Yangon.
Myint Myint Thein wrote :
I felt young again reading about the good old days at UCC.
Senior monk or the Chief resident monk of a monastery. Often used together with “U”. e.g Sayadaw U Sobhana
A distinguished sayadaw may be referred to as Sayadawgyi as a sign of reverence.
The terms “sayadaw” and “sayadawgyi” originally corresponded to the senior monks who taught the former Burmese kings. They may be influential teachers of the Buddhist Dhamma and also outstanding meditation practitioners. They usually are Abbots of monasteries or monastery networks with a large number of resident monks and a lay following.
Honorific Terms
Several honorific terms exist for Buddhist monks, reflecting their achievements and number of Vassa spent.
The given name is extended with Prefixes, Suffixes and Titles
Prefix
Achan (used in Thailand)
Ashin အသျှင်
Baddhanta ဘဒ္ဒန္တ
Bhikkhu ဘိက္ခူ
Maha Thera မဟာထေရ
Oo ဦး၊ ဥူး
Sayadaw ဆရာတော်
Sayadawgyi ဆရာတော်ကြီး
Shin ရှင်
Upazin ဥပဇင်း
Uzin ဦးဇင်း
U ဦး၊ ဥူး
Thera ထေရ
Venerable
Suffix
[A]bhivamsa” အဘိဝံသ Pass “Set kyar thi ha Dhammacariya” examination before age 26
Lankara လင်္ကာရ Pass Lankara dhamma exam as a novice
Pa hta ma gyaw ပထမကျော် First in the “Pa hta Ma Pyan” examination
Thi ro ma ni သိရောမဏိ Finished 9 “kyans” in a single year
Wun tha ka ဝံသက First in the “Set kyar thi ha Dhammacariya” examination
Title
Some monks may highlight their accomplishments
Dhammacariya ဓမ္မာစရိယ Dhamma lecturer
Thamane Kyaw သာမဏေကျော် Stood first in the Lankara examination
Pali Paragu ပါဠိပါရဂူ Completed the examination in Pali
Agga Maha Pandita အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ Senior sage
Tipitaka Dara တိပိဋကဓရ Completed Three Baskets — “Vinaya”, “Sutta”, and “Abhidhamma”
Dwee Pitaka Dara ဒွိပိဋကဓရ Completed Two Baskets
[informal] “Ta Pone Saung” တပုံဆောင် Completed One Basket
[informal] “Hna Pone Khwair Saung” နှစ်ပုံခွဲဆောင် Completed “Vinaya”, “Sutta” and the first part of “Abhidhamma”
U Vicittasarahhivamsa
A monk may be addressed by
his given Dhamma name e.g. U Vicittasara
a qualified name, e.g. U Victtasarabhivamsa (with the suufix -abhivamsa)
by the name of his monastery e.g. Mingun Sayadaw
title e.g. Tipitakadara
and the combination e.g. Tipitakadara Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhimvamsa
Venerable Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa, served as “Chief Respondent” at the Sixth Buddhist Council (1954 – 1956) in Yangon,
He earlier passed the Tipitaka Examination with Distinctions in all subjects.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognized his memory and the feat of reciting 8000+ pages of the Pali Canon.
Thus, he could be addressed in several ways “
Mingun Sayadaw Reference to his home monastery at Mingun
U Vicittasara Name given at the Ordination
U Vicittasarabhivamsa Passed the Mandalay Setkya Thiha examination before age 26
Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa Chief Resident Monk
Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa Chief Resident Monk of a monastery in Mingun
Tipitaka Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa Passed Tipitaka examination
Tipitakadhara Dhammabhandakarika Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa First monk to be awarded the titles Tipitakadhara (“Bearer of the Tipitaka) and Dhammabhandakarika (“Treasurer of the Dhamma”).
In FB, tagging a post makes a copy to the Timeline of the person being tagged.
There are pros and cons for using FB tags. e.g. Someone may receive multiple of a post that is being revised incrementally.
In FB, the individuals in a photo may be tagged. There are pros and cons for using FB photo tags.
Some algorithms used by FB to process photo tags have features. e.g. I have a photo with U Osadha of Dhammananda Vihara. FB asked me to tag Ashin Pannagavesaka (Uzin Bobby Myo Tun, A69) even though he was not present in the picture. The algorithms do not handle the case correctly for Theravada Buddhist monks.
In the early days, there is game called “Tag”.
There used to be Rag Tag Bands.
TAG – Technology and Architectures Group
by KMZ
The last group I worked in my first company. Took me 10 years in that company to get into that group, starting from the very bottom when I arrived in US. The very first year in US, every interviewer told me I would get bored in several months in the job I interviewed for. Some of them even referred me to outside Agencies.
This first company was and still is, a retail company, where technology and IT were treated as second class citizen. Even worth the new retechnoligies we tried to push out, the higher ups were not enthusiastic about it. They see IT being the money spending “Cost Center” not a “Revenue Generating” aka merchandise selling department.
After they pushed out long time VP of IT was transferred to newly created online entity website, TAG was abolished. I was in the middle of another technologies, Data Warehouse/Data Mart and Internet, got transferred into Database group.
IBM, having deep connections to our IT, we were running Big Blue, like any other big IT shops. IBM got a foot hold to sell their web/internet technologies. I was in the minority of IBM’s internet products (1997/1998), and was pushed aside. It didn’t work out well so Microsoft’s Professional Services was brought in. My former VP asked me to come to his new department, but I got pushed aside again because Microsoft folks complained that I asked them too many questions.
That was the end of my career with the retail company.
HlaMin 