HlaMin

Category: Burma

  • Seven Siblings

    Seven Siblings

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 6th October 2026

    ICS U Tin Tut

    U Tin Tut
    • First Burmese to become ICS by invitation.
    • Served as Foreign Minister, Brigadier of a Reserve Army, Journalist and Publisher.
    • Perished when a bomb (placed under his car) exploded. There were investigations, but no conclusive results were reported.
    • Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint posted photos and articles about his Ba Gyi (e.g. The Empty Tomb).
    • “Ba Gyi Aung Nyar Dei” ဘကြီးအောင်ညာတယ် (a famous short story by Minthuwun (Saya U Wun) has implicit references to U Tin Tut.

    U Kyaw Myint

    U Kyaw Myint
    • Barrister, Judge of Supreme Court, Head of Tribunal that tried Galon U Saw, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Politician, Head of private Law firm that defended several people accused by the BSPP government).
    • Stood first in Burma from Central with distinctions in all subjects. Sadly, he was expelled from the University of Rangoon for attending his mother’s funeral and earned the ire of the Principal and his father. His saga is recounted in a series of posts by his son Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint.
    • Dhamma friend of my beloved parents. They built Dat Paung Zon Aung Min Gaung pagoda and supported “Mon” Sayadaw U Thilawanta.
    Brief Bio of U Kyaw Myint

    U Myint Thein

    • Chief Justice of the Union of Burma
    • On March 2, 1962, a Coup D’etat took place. Arrested along the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, several Sawbwas and high ranking officials. During his detainment, he was allowed only one day off to attend the funeral of his spouse Daw Phwa Hmi (an early Burmese female to be called to the Bar in the UK).
    • Ambassador to China
    • Outstanding author and translator
    • Pen name : “MMT” (for Maung Myint Thein). His works were heavily censored.

    Dr. Htin Aung

    Dr. Htin Aung
    • Principal of Rangoon College
    • First native Rector of the Rangoon University
    • Prolific writer covering history, folklore and several topics
    • “Burmese Drama” & “Thirty Burmese Tales” were prescribed texts

    Daw Khin Mya Mu

    • Lecturer in Burmese
    • Thamadu Myo Win (family court judge)
    • Expert in Kyauk Sar (stone inscriptions)
    • Spouse : Professor U E Maung
    • Her handwritten manuscripts were not published due to lack of fonts, and were ultimately lost

    Daw Khin Saw Mu

    Daw Khin Saw Mu
    • Early student of Sayagyi U Pe Maung Tin
    • Khit San Poet
    • Spouse : ICS U Ba Tint
    • Children : Daw Khin Saw Tint (RIT English, bilingual writer)
      and U Nay Oke Tint (St. Paul’s, TED-x InyaLake speaker, successful tuition saya, Chair of the Myanmar Board for organizing the 5th Irrawaddy Literary Festival)

    Daw Tin Saw Mu

    • Lecturer in English at Rangoon University
  • Bala / Strength ဗလ

    Bala / Strength ဗလ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 6th October 2026

    Handover of Salwe

    Bala ဗလ stands for Strength or Prowess.

    Bala Nga Tan ဗလငါးတန် (Five kinds of strength)

    • Kaya Bala (ကာယဗလ Physical Strength).
      In our younger days, there were Kaya Bala Ah Thin အသင်း (Clubs) for developing Physical Strength. Some instructors have their names prefixed with “Kaya Bala”.
    • Nyana Bala (ဥာဏဗလ Mental Strength).
    • Bawga Bala (ဘောဂဗလ Economic Prowess). There used to be an Oil Mill (Vendor) named “Bawga Bala”.
    • Meikta Bala (မိတ္တဗလ Skill for making friends). U Nu’s translation of “How to win friends and influence people” was named “Meikta Bala Tika”. It’s earlier title was “Lu Paw Lu Zaw Loke Nee” (which did not seem diplomatic).
    • Caritta Bala (စာရိတ္တဗလ Moral Courage)
  • Adeikhtan အဓိဌာန်

    Adeikhtan အဓိဌာန်

    by Hla Min

    Update : 5th October 2026

    Mon Sayadaw

    Adeikhtan is rendered as Determination. It is a commitment to do something as planned. One needs resolve.

    New Year Resolution is a form of Adeikhtan, but many do not seriously follow it.

    A time-bounded Adeikhtan is easier to fulfill. At some meditation retreats, one pledges to practice mindfulness for the period (e.g. one hour).

    According to the Buddhist Chronicles, the Bodhisatta (Buddha to be) made an Adeikhtan to meditate under the Bodhi Tree until he became Enlightened.

    Examples of Determination

    • Try a new task every day for a specified period
    • Learn a new language every year
    • [Hard] master four languages in a year by living and studying with native speakers
    • Visit a number of places (e.g. countries) within a specified period
  • Pali Scholars

    Pali Scholars

    by Hla Min

    Update : 5th October 2026

    U Pe Maung Tin

    U Pe Maung Tin

    He is the first native Professor of Pali and Burmese. He successfully proposed the opening of the Burmese Department at Rangoon University.

    His works include

    • Translation of Visuddhimagga
    • The Expositor (Atthasalai)
    • Burmese Grammar
    • Glass Palace Chronicle (co-author)

    †U Thitthila

    U Thitthila
    • Sayadaw did missionary work in UK. He came back to Burma and taught at the Pali Department for several years before continuing his missionary work abroad.
    • Sayadaw also translated for Pali Text Society (PTS).

    U Shwe Zan Aung

    U Shwe Zan Aung
    • He translated a Buddhist text for Pali Text Society (PTS).

    U Aung Than

    • He was Pali Professor. He was also Commander of the Rangoon University Training Corps.

    U Tin Lwin

    • Pali Professor
    • Also taught at IMBTU.
    • Co-authored the translation of Maha Buddhavamsa (Life Story of the Buddha) by Tipitaka Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa).

    U Silanandabhivamsa

    U Silananda
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is paritta-pali.jpg
    Protective Suttas
    • He served as Chief Compiler of the Tipitaka Pali-Myanmar Dictionary for the Sixth Buddhist Council.
    • Served as an external examiner for the Pali Department.
    • Chief Resident Monk of Dhammananda Vihara.
    • He wrote books in Burmese and English. “Paritta Pali & Protective Verses” was published by a Thai Devotee as a birthday present for Sayadaw.
    • First Rector of IMBTU

    U Hoke Sein

    Pali Burmese Dictionary
    • He spent over a decade to compile and refine the Pali-English-Burmese Dictionary. U Hoke Sein, son U Saw Hlaing, grand daughter Dr. Cherry Hlaing and two great grand children all stood first in their respective Matriculation examination.

    Mr. Balwant Singh

    • He took Pali Honors.
    • He is RUBC Gold,
    • He was forced to retire as Commissioner of Pegu Division.
    • Joined the United Nations and served as a Security Expert.

    Venerable Nyanatiloka

    Buddhist Dictionary
    • He compiled “Buddhist Dictionary”.

    U Myat Kyaw & U San Lwin

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pali-eng-bur.jpg
    • U Myat Kyaw compiled a book of Buddhist terms.
    • U San Lwin translated into English.
    • The book was published by Myanmar Sar Ah Phwe.
  • Families

    Families

    by Hla Min

    Update : September 2026

    Alphabetical Order

    • Cecil Teoh (C63) and Edward Teoh (M64) are the 3rd and 5th of the 15 Teoh Siblings named alphabetically — from A (Albert) to O (Oscar).
    • Kenny Teoh was the web master of MEHS (Methodist English High School) web site.
    Cecil

    Named after Vowels, but

    • Ko Aung Win (Owen, M71) is the 4th of 6 Khoo Siblings.
    • The first 5 were named after vowels — A (Alan), E (Eddie), I (Iris), O (Owen), U (Unice).
    • The youngest is named after the first consonant : B (Beepo).
    Owen

    Saluja Brothers

    D S Saluja
    • Dave Singh Saluja (SPHS63) left RIT to found Rama Enterprise in Bangkok with his elder brother (MIT Alumnus, GBNF).
    • His eldest brother was a Playboy.
    • Their father Teja Singh was an Entrepreneur, who passed on his expertise to his seven sons.
    • Dave and his siblings live and work in USA, UK, India and Thailand.
    • Dave collected comics, cartoons and jokes; he was Humor Editor of the Newsletter published by RIT English Association.
    • Singh is a common middle name for male Sikhs.
      It was established partly to counter discrimination (in the caste dominant days).
    • Saluja is a family name.

    Thirteen Siblings

    Ko Kyaw Myint and brothers
    • Ko Kyaw Myint (T72) is the youngest of 13 siblings.
    • Four brothers — U Saw Maung (85 years), Dr. Kan Nyunt (83 years), U Sein Tun (81 years) and Ko Kyaw Myint (71 years) are alive and well.
    • His great great grandfather had 40 spouses concurrently — unbroken record in the family.
      The closest challenger had only 4 (not concurrent).
  • Notes — P

    Notes — P

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Pali

    Pali
    • Discipline
    • Language
    • Pali Scholars
    • Sayagyi U Pe Maung Tin
    • Saya U Aung Than
    • Saya U Tin Lwin
    U Aung Than
    Magazine
    Magazine 2
    Magazine 3
    Pali Professors

    Palmistry

    • Background
    • Palmists
    • Cheiro
    • Benham
    • Anecdotes

    Passion

    • Importance of Passion

    Perfect

    • Perfect score
    • Perfect shape
    • Perfect number
    • Cost of perfection
    • “I am Imperfectly Perfect”

    Philosophy

    • Discipline
    • Dr. Hla Bu
    • U San Lwin
    • Nanda Thein Zan

    Physics

    • Discipline
    • Dr. Maung Maung Kha
    • U San Tha Aung
    • Dr. Tin Aung

    Poetic Art

    • Kabyar : RIT Poets
    • Illustration : U Myo Myint
    • Translation : U Hla Min

    Poetry

    • Rhyme
    • Free Verse

    Political Science

    • Discipline
    • LSE : London School of Economics and Politics
    • U Nyein Aung
    • U Tha Din
    • U Khin Aung Bo

    Principle

    • Paretto Principle
    • Law of diminishing return
    • Peter’s Principle
    • Dilbert’s Principle

    Psychology

    • Discipline
    • Saya Dr. Hla Bu
    • Saya Dr. Hla Thwin
    • Daw Khin Khin Htwe / Flora San Pe
    • Daw Elsie Po Sa
    • Psychology of Programming
  • Burma — Unsolved Mystery

    Burma — Unsolved Mystery

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    1949

    • Assassination of ICS U Tin Tut in 1949
    • Someone informed of the “probable assassination attempt” to U Kyaw Myint (younger brother of U Tin Tut).
    • Senior Police Officials in charge of the investigation were retired with generous offers.

    Memories

    • U Tin Tut was the first ICS by Invitation.
    • He was a member of Bogyoke’s delegation to UK.
    Tin Tut 1
    Tin Tut 2
    Tin Tut 3

    Post by Thant Myint-U (on September 15, 2015)

    66th anniversary of Myanmar’s tragic assassination

    Friday (18 September) will be the 66th anniversary of the assassination of U Tin Tut, ICS. He was mortally wounded when a bomb exploded in his car on Sparks Street (now Bo Aung Kyaw Street). He died shortly after in Rangoon General Hospital. The mystery of who killed U Tin Tut has never been solved. His death changed the course of Burmese history.

    U Tin Tut was educated at Dulwich and Queen’s College, Cambridge. He was a top scholar and athlete (captaining his college rugby team) and the first Burmese admitted into the elite Indian Civil Service. After World War Two, he was the only Burmese fluent in both financial and constitutional affairs and widely seen as the most brilliant Burmese of his generation.

    He was in many ways U Aung San’s principal deputy and a key figure at both the January 1947 London negotiations and at Panglong. He was seriously injured on 19 July 1947 when U Aung San and the others were killed.

    He was Burma’s first foreign minister but resigned during the increasingly chaotic and violent days of mid-1948 to become the Inspector General (i.e. commander) of the new Union Auxiliary Force, meant to counter the communists and other ‘Leftists’.

    He was a nationalist but not a socialist, and wanted to maintain good relations with the West. The more radical factions in Burmese politics and in the Burma Army saw him as a threat.

    Posts

    • ICS
    • Seven Siblings
    • The Empty Tomb
    • U Tin Tut
  • Movie Poster

    Movie Poster

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    ရှေးခေတ် — ရုပ်ရှင် ကြော်ငြာ

    လူထုအောင်သံ — ရုပ်ရှင်

    ပြဇာတ် — ဦးနု

    ရုပ်ရှင်ရုံ (တချို့)

    • ရန်ကုန်
      New Excelsior (ဝဇီရာ)
      Carlton (ယုဇန)
    • မန္တလေး
      Golden Cinema (ရွှေ)
    • မော်လမြိုင်
      King Cinema (ဘရင့်ရုံ)
    • ပုသိမ်
      Raphael Cinema
    • စစ်တွေ
      Sittway Cinema (စစ်တွေ)

    Notes

    • U Nu wrote the play.
    • It was prescribed as a text.
    • Bo Ba Ko and Maung Maung Tar became famous actors.

    Posts

    • Actors & Directors
    • Cinemas
  • Tin Moe တင်မိုး

    Tin Moe တင်မိုး

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Highlights

    Tin Moe
    • Name : Ba Gyan
    • Pen name : Tin Moe
    • Laureate Poet
    • National Literary Award Wonner
    • Speaker, SF Bay Area Literary Talks
    • Scored a perfect 25 marks for Essay & distinction in Burmese for the Matric exam
    • Alumnus, Mandalay University
    • National Literary Award Winner
    • Member, Curriculum for Burmese
    • Born in 1933
    • Passed away in Southern California in 2007

    In Memory of Tin Moe

    One month

    One month anniversary

    Six months

    • A book was published in his memory six months after his demise.
    Six month anniversary
    • Displayed at the SF Bay Area Literary Talks on July 22, 2007.
    • Several Authors and/or Literary Lovers signed the book for me.
    • Cho Cho Thinn (Tin Moe’s daughter)
    • Htain Lin
    • Dr. Kyaw Tint
    • Maung Yit (Maung Maung Win)
    • Myo Sint
    • Ohn Myint
    • Tin Maung Than
    • Win Pe

    Posts

    • Literary Talks
    • Poet Art Series
    • Poetry
    • Rhyme
    • Translation of Poems
  • Burma — Elections

    Burma — Elections

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    1960 Election

    U Nu
    • Pyidaungsu Party (formerly known as Clean AFPFL) won. U Nu became Prime Minister of the Union of Burma for the Third and Last time.
    • Several military officers (who used power to support the Losing Party) were purged.
    • The 17 man Revolutionary Council staged a Coup d’etat on March 2, 1962. According to Kyemon U Thaung, six of them did not have access to high level information / decision.
    • Burma lost its hard fought Independence.

    Sham Elections

    • During the BSPP era, there were Sham Elections. Mostly single candidate nominated by BSPP. Voters had to choose White (Yes) or Black (No).
    • During one BSPP Convention, the then Number One did not get the Top Vote. A purge followed. Those suspected of “Election Fraud” were criminalized with ludicrous charges. The MI Chief and his followers became extremely powerful. Eventually they were detained or dismissed.
    • Jump Promotions and Purges led to many Toadies. e.g a Commander who baby sit the grand kids of his Boss.

    Past Elections

    • In September 1988 General Saw Maung took over. He promised to hold free and fair elections and that the soldiers will return to the Barracks.
      Citing medical reasons, he was forced out & replaced by a Ruthless Dictator.
    • The National League for Democracy won the 1990 Elections. The results were nullified. The majority of elected representatives were detained.
    • The military rule — accompanied by Nepotism, Cronyism & Terrorism — established a hand crafted Constitution in 2008 to ensure impunity for their Crimes and an unfair advantage to the past, present & future Thugs.
    • 2010 Election was virtually uncontested. Some Toadies helped the military by posing as Opposition.
    • 2015 and 2020 Elections were won convincingly by NLD (National League for Democracy).