Category: Memory

Celebration in Aug 2016
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

Soon Kyway
- Ko Maurice Chee (M75) organized a Birthday Soon Kyway for me at Dhammanda Vihara in Half Moon Bay.
- Several sayas and alumni brought food and gifts. Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi could not attend, but he ordered a party tray for the gathering.
- Charlie and Diana Tseng brought two Birthday Cakes for the August born.
- On behalf of the RIT Alumni worldwide, Saya U Myat Htoo (GBNF) presented the Alumni Appreciation Award to me
Award

U Myat Htoo & U Hla Min
- U Myat Htoo served as President of TBSA (Theravada Buddhist Society of America) for over a decade. I served as a a Vice President.
Birthday Greetings

U Tha Aung (M79) and Daw Kinsa Maw-Naing (ChE79)
- Hosted mini reunions in Canada
- Volunteer as SPZP2016 representatives.
- Sayamagyi Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing was my English teacher in I Sc(A).
Dear Ko Hla Min,

Happy Birthday and to say thank you for all your efforts in keeping RIT alumni connected globally. Even though we don’t have much to say, we always follow your updates.

May you have a happy healthy long life and lots of ku-tho.

with metta from Tha Aung & Kinsa

Saya U Htun Aung Kyaw (ChE67, SPHS61)

Happy Birthday Ko Hla Min and cutie pie!
I appreciate all you hard work and dedication to RIT Alumni newsletter.
Sorry I cannot attend the event.

Birthday Card
- Ko Maurice printed the electronic greetings on a large card.
- He also brought a blank card to be filled by attendees (who had not e-mailed greetings)
Birthday Greetings

Thanks for your appreciation

Dear Sayas and Colleagues,

It is truly amazing to be appreciated by sayas and alumni. he following are some examples.
- Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi and Daw Emma called from Canada to wish my Cutie Pie and me. They also sponsored “Tohu Thoke” for the attendees.
  Sayagyi sent Ko Maurice his congratulatory message for me to be read at the soon kyway gathering. See the following section for details.
- Saya U Tin Htut flew in from Southern California.
- Ko San Lin (M 87, “Maung Lu Pay”) took “time off” from work to attend the soon kyway.
- Ko Kyaw Myint (M 83) delegated his “Flower shop” to his assistant to attend the soon kyway.
- Ko Myint Soe (M79), who recently had knee surgery, requested Ko Aung Myint Oo (EC 84) to give him and his spouse a ride to the soon kyway.
- Due to tight multiple schedules, Angelina and Ko Benny Tan (M 70) came in separate cars so that Ko Benny can have more time with his sayas and colleagues
- Saya U Tin Maung Nyunt (M 60) will celebrate his 80th birthday in December, 2016. Saya only drive local short distance, so he asked Ko Thein Naing (Patrick) to give him a ride.
- Daw Mu Mu Khin, spouse of Saya Allen Htay, had tears in her eyes. She said that Saya would wish to be at the RIT mini-gatherings. She gave me silk neck ties that were bought (but never worn) by Saya Allen. She shares the birthday on August 18 with my grand daughter.
- Ko Maurice ordered a cake to celebrate August Born including Daw Mu Mu Kin and Ko Myint Swe (EP 74).
- Ko Maurice hand crafted a custom “birthday greetings” card with extracts from the birthday greetings from the RIT updates. The messages from Saya Dr. San Hla Aung, Ko Tha Aung, Ma Kinsa Maw-Naing came in too late to be incorporated into the gigantic card.
- Ko Maurice spent countless days organizing the event. Following the tradition of his late father Uncle U Wah Kyu, Ko Maurice also prepared custom birayani (dan bauk).
- Ko Charlie Tseng (EC 70) and Ma Diana Tseng (ChE 71) ordered two large birthday cakes for me.
- The full list of food donors and sponsors are maintained by Ko Maurice.
- Ko Johnson Lim (cousin of Ko Robert San Lin) needs a human walking “cane” (his beloved spouse). They are regular food donors at most events.
- Daw Kyu Kyu Lin (T75) rarely attends gatherings. She made an exception this time. She brought “Kyee Oh See Kyet”.
  She also gave a ride to two Textile grads: Ko Than Htay (T75) and Ma Bibsu (T76).
- Saya Daw Khin Khin Chit Maung also rarely attends gatherings. She made an exception this time. She and Saya U Myo Min fetched Saya U Tin Htut (Daw KKCM’s elder brother) at the air port and also brought him to the Half Moon Bay monastery.
- Ko Gordon Kaung (M 83) and Ma Lillian Kaung (EC 83) drove 2+ hours from Napa. They also brought a bottle of iNapa Premium wine and also some desserts.
- Saya U Myat Htoo (C 68) spent a decade or so as President of TBSA (Theravada Buddhist Society of America) at half Moon Bay monastery. It was a sort of “welcome back” for Saya and Ma Ku (Daw Hnin Maung Maung).
- Saya U Maung Maung (George, ChE 66) is a Past President of Northern California RIT Alumni Association and a founding member of RIT Alumni International.
  He and Daw Eng Eng (sister of Saya U Myat Thwin, ChE 66) brought samoosa.
- There were a few young and not so young alumni at the event. They include Ko Soe Thu (C98) and Ma Thandar.
- Saya U Nyo Win (M 65) and spouse were caught in the traffic.
- Saya U Thein Aung (Met 72) and Sandra (M 76) brought their daughter.
- Dr. Myint Thein (M 73) talked about his “Htaik Htar” Daw Nyo Nyo Win (T 73) and provide examples of “Applied English” (e.g. “air cut” for stroke).
Uzin Chan Min
- Rowed for the Institute of Economics. His crew members include U Htin Kyaw (Peter) and U Soe Thinn.
- Attended the computer classes at UCC in Rangoon.
- Became a monk at Dhammananda Vihara (Half Moon Bay) after his retirement.
Uzin Chan Min & Attendees
September 28, 2026
Heartfelt Thanks
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

Parents

My beloved parents

Thanks to my beloved parents (“Let Oo Sayas လက်ဦးဆရာများ”) for their unconditional love and support.

Dad
- Told us stories from the “University of Life”
- Shared his experience as a volunteer for social and religious work.
- He built & renovated pagodas. He built houses for him and two younger brothers.
- His advice : “Anything that is worth doing should be done well.”
Mom
- Even though she had house maids, she got up early to prepare breakfast and lunch box
- Supervised my homework in Primary school & Middle school
- Loving Kindness Meditation & Sharing Merits — Daily
- Her gentle exhortation: “Eyes have you and you see not. Ears have you and you hear not.”
Ancestors

Thanks to my philanthropic ancestors
- Donated in cash and kind for building and/or restoring pagodas, schools, hospitals & monasteries
- Offered food, e.g Sa Tu Ditha at Shwe Dagon Tabaung Festival
- Provided medicine, e.g for burns)
- Gave stipend, e.g to bright but needy students
I am following their footsteps by giving back to my beloved land, mentors, benefactors & alma mater

Family Members

My spouse

Thanks to my family members
- They supported my volunteer work for several decades.
- My beloved spouse wrote articles for Dhammanda Newsletter with the pen name “Neikban Zaw”.
- My niece Dr. Khine Zin Oo gave me a surprise gift: tripod with remote control.
Poets & Artists

Thanks to the contributors of “Poetic Art”.
- Tekkatho Moe War : Saya U Moe Aung
Saya Moe
- Okpo Maung Yin Maung : Saya U Aung Myaing
Okpo & Bagyee
- Maung Nyunt Htay (Ah Htet Min Hla) : Saya U Nyunt Htay
Nyunt Htay
- Win Myint (M72) : U Win Myint
- Bagyee Myat Myo Myint : U Myo Myint
Miscellaneous

Thanks to Dr. Khin Maung U, Dr. Nyunt Wai, Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint, several sayas, colleagues, friends and literary lovers for contributing and/or reviewing my posts.

Saya U Htun Aung Kyaw (ChE67, SPHS61) posted the list of videos with the links. He also commented on optimization of the talks.

U Tin Aung Win (Oscar, M69, Sacred Heart63) gave me rides to the Golden Jubilee celebrations — Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in the morning and Reuinion Dinner in the evening — in 2019. See my posts for a more comprehensive list of those who provided me transportation,

U Htun Aung (EP70) and spouse Daw Pwint Than (EP71, High school Luyechun in 1964 and 1965) gave me a dhamma book at SPZP-2016.

Saya Dr. Kyaw Tint (Physics, Author) was a Science Scholar, Past President of BADA, and is an entrepreneur. He provided info on Science Scholars and selected topics.

U Ye Sint taught Physics in Myanmar before moving to USA. He was Vice President, Board of Director, Contributing Editor of “Dhammananda Newsletter” and “Paying Homage to Sayadaw U Silandabhivsmsa” book at TBSA. He gave book presents to me.

Eddie Shein (U Aung Kyaw Myint) matriculated from SPHS and graduated from RIT. His hobbies include Palmistry & Astrology. He invited us to the wedding reception of his daughter (specialist medical doctor in Australia). It was a mini-reunion of alumni from SPHS and RIT.

U Maung Maung Kyi (my classmate at SPHS & Leik Khone, my crew mate at RUBC and Best Man at my wedding) and his spouse Daw Khin May Than (ChE72) hosted us at Ogmore-by-the-sea in Wales, UK.

U Win Latt authored WinHoro at UCC under my supervision. He has a Master in Computer Science. He runs a software company named SysMagic. He worked in Myanmar, Singapore & Thailand. He hosted me during my first visit to Singapore and treated us during my visit to Bangkok in 2024.

Saya U Aung Zaw (UCC, CSO, Author) gave me two of his books : “Bawa and Dhamma”, and “Cetana Thi Thar Kan”. He studied M.Sc. (Computer Science) at Southampton University, UK. He taught CS at UCC, Assumption University in Bangkok and at a college in Sydney, Australia.

U Aung Myint (UCC, SPHS64, Physics) transferred from RIT EE Lab to UCC Systems Division. He was Maintenance Engineer and a victim of the 33 question survey following 8-8-88. He taught Courses (e.g Programmable Logic Controllers). He and his son took us to Tanyin / Syriac to visit the Yay Le Phaya and Thabawa Dhamma Yeik Tha. His hobbies include Palmistry and Astrology. He wrote Bedin programs on the ICL 1902S computer at UCC.

U Ngwe Soe (Silver, UCC, AGTI, Japanese Diploma, Physics) was among the young UCC employees. He did sea faring briefly before working for projects around the world. He showed us around Singapore. He and his spouse Daw Nu Nu Yee hosted us for two nights at their home in Jahore, Malaysia. Ma Nu is the sister of U Khin Maung Thwe (RIT69er, GBNF).

U Hlaing Myint (UCC, CS) is the nephew of Saya Dr. San Tint (retired Professor of EC / Electronics, YTU). He helped with the maintenance of my car in the early days at UCC. He gave me rides in his newest car during my previous trip to Yangon. He was an eligible bachelor for a long time. He is now a proud father.

Saya U Aung Myaing (ChE72, Poet) is contributor and coordinator of “Poetic Art”. He recorded several songs (including “Till the end of the world”). His son gave him software for video editing. He and his spouse Daw Gyn Yu (ChE72) hosted sayas and alumni visiting Bangkok (especially for medical checkup).

Sayar Khin Maung Oo (Master Mariner) taught in Myanmar and Malaysia. He and his spouse Daw Tin Tin Win provide volunteer service (e.g shopping, cooking) for Myanmar crew members (notably those who do not have visas to get off their ships at the Port of Houston, Texas).

U Win Thein (Padamyar Winhtein) stood first in his Mathematics Major class in 1966. He wrote for magazines and journals (pen name : Maung Nyo). He is a Moderator for “Fun with Learning” FB Group.

U Sann Tun Ni (Las Vegas) owns a sushi business. He worked for Heavy Industries, and as a Tourist Guide (for Japanese) before moving to USA. He is a Gawpaka at the Las Vegas monastery.

Dr. Myint Tun (Henry Cho Tun, SPHS60) scored the highest marks in I.Sc(A) and I.Sc(B) Combined. He urged me to “Carry On”.

Saya U Min Wun (GBNF) was Professor and Head of Civil Engineering at RIT and Member of the Myanmar Pyetkadein Ah Kyan Pay Ah Phwe. Saya retired from Caltans at the tender age of 80 to have time for meditation. He was interviewed by the newspaper and Internet TV in Southern California. Saya wrote several articles for RIT Alumni International Newsletter.

U Khin Maung Myint (M71) rowed for RIT. He stays active by running and mountaineering.

SMART Group of Companies (U Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing and team) for hosting me twice during my visit to Myanmar from November 2019 to January 2020.

Admin and Moderator
- Sagar Pariye
  Dr. Nyunt Wai (SPHS63, Fourth in Burma)
- MARB
  U Kyaw Myint, Dr. Aung Myin Bo
- Team Old School IT
  U Kyaw Zeya
- YUBC Old Members
  U Zeyar Linn
- Swel Daw Yeik
  U Khin Maung Lwin
- Gangaw Taw Yar Pyie (RU Centennial)
  Dr. Nyi Thet Lwin, U Aung Mon
- P.B.R.S Group
  U Aye Maung Than, U Mya Hlaing
- Friends of Sayar Khin Maung Oo
  U Khin Maung Oo
- SF Bay Area Myanmar Community and Cultural Center
  U Cho Oo, U Kyaw Kyaw Soe
- Fun with Learning
  Padamyar Winhtein, U Khin Maung Zaw
- 1964 – 1988 Luyechun
  U Win Aung
September 27, 2026
Memory is fallible အမှတ်မှားတတတ်
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

U Nay Oke’s Talk about Two Poets

အထင်မှား / အမှတ်မှား

Short Story by Minthuwun

Minthuwun

“ဘကြီးအောင် ညာတယ်” ဝတ္ထု (မြန်မာ နှင့် အင်္ဂလိပ်ဘာသာပြန်) ကို ငယ်စဉ်က ဖတ်ခဲ့ရပါသည်။

ဆရာ မင်းသုဝဏ် ၏ ကဗျာ / ဝတ္ထု တို့ ကို သူငယ်ချင်း စာပေပညာ ရှင်များ က အင်္ဂလိပ် ဘာသာ ဖြင့် ပြန်ဆိုဂုဏ်ပြုကြပါသည်။

Dr. Htin Aung is

NOT Bagyi Aung

ယနေ့ တိုင် ဘကြီးအောင် ကို ပါမောက္ခချုပ်ဒေါက်တာထင် အောင် ဟု အထင်မှား အမှတ်မှားသူများ ရှိနေပါသည်။

Prof. U E Maung is

NOT Bagyi Aung

blogger တဦးက စိတ်ကူးဖြင့် ဘကြီးအောင် ကို မြန်မာစာပါမောက္ခ ဦးဧမောင် ဟု ရေးသားခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထို blog ကို like/ share လုပ်သော စာ ဖတ်သူများ မနည်းပါ။ Internet တွင် misinformation, disinformation, hoax, unchecked facts များ တွေ့မြင်နေရပါသည်။

U Nay Oke (St. Paul)’s named the Four Main Characters

ဦးနေအုပ် (စိန်ပေါလ်) က TEDx talk တွင် ခေတ်စမ်းစာပေ ကဗျာ ဆရာ နှစ်ဦး ၏ မေတ္တာ အကြောင်း ကို ကဗျာများနှင့်အတူ ရှင်းလင်းပြခဲ့ပါသည်။

အဓိကဇာတ်ဆောင် များမှာ
- ဆရာ မင်းသုဝဏ် Minthuwun
- ဒေါ်ခင်စောမူ (ဦးနေအုပ်၏မိခင်) Daw Khin Saw Mu (U Nay Oke’s Mother)
- ICS ဦးတင်ထွဋ် (ဦးနေအုပ်၏ဘကြီး) ICS U Tin Tut (U Nay Oke’s Bagyi)
- ICSဦးဘတင့် (ဦးနေအုပ်၏ဖခင်) ICS U Ba Tint (U Nay Oke’s Father)
ICS U Tin Tut

is Bagyi Aung

ကာယကံရှင်များ ကွယ်လွန်ကြပြီးဖြစ်သဖြင့် “ဘကြီးအောင်” အဖြစ်မှန်ကို ဦးနေအုပ်က စေတနာဖြင့် တင်ပြခဲ့ပါသည်။

To err is human

To minimize or eliminate misinformation is desirable

Thanks to all those who pointed out inadvertent errors and inconsistencies in my posts / writings
September 27, 2026
Album
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

Hla Min

Photo Album
- Many years ago I received a photo album as a present.
- During our younger days, photos were expensive. It costs about 25 – 50 pyas per photo.
  There is a base cost for processing a film roll, and extra cost for printing reasonably good photos.
- One may waste money due to overexposure, underexposure, blurred photos (for taking moving objects with a low ASA or DIN).
- I did not take many photos. So, my album was not full. I decided to use it as a Scrap Book.
Scrap Book
- I pasted some of my publications (poems and translations) from the newspapers (e.g. Guardian, WPD) and magazines (e.g. Forward). I added some captions.
- A few years back, I tore off the pages and scanned them. I posted some of them in my Facebook pages and my personal website.
- As time and energy permitted, I provided details of the photo.
Memories
- Ko Benny Tan (M70) told me that his parents brought thousands of photos (taken out of many albums to save weight and space) to the USA. With such wealth of material, it is easy to share memories with the descendants.
- Thanks to sayas, alumni, friends and readers for sharing rare photos and memories.
- I now have several digital photo albums in my Facebook pages and in my personal web site.
September 23, 2026
My Album
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

Our Ancestors’ House

Ein Gyi (Big House)
- Many of us (siblings and cousins) grew up in “Ein Gyi” (အိမ်ကြီး Big House).
- Later my father and his siblings built their houses in the Compound.
Beloved Parents

P 1

P 2

My father
- Supported us to have a decent education
- My Let Oo Saya
- Wrote about them in several posts : Father, Mother, Beloved Parents, Countdown to SPZP
Collegiate Scholarship

HM 3
- Stood Seventh in Burma in the Matric exam of 1963.
- Awarded Collegiate Scholarship of 75 Kyats per month
- Honored by the school (St. Paul’s High School) and the alumni association (Old Paulian Association)
- Additional information can be found in posts related to SPHS
RIT Days
- Attended Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT) from 1964 to 1969
- Additional information can be found in my post “Memories of a 69er”
RIT Student

HM 1
- Passed the last ever I.Sc.(A) exam
- Admitted to the first ever 2nd BE in November 1964
- 320+ classmates.
- Sad to note that 128 are GBNF
- In Aung Min (M69) & team maintain the GBNF list
EE Association

EE Association
- EC (Class Representative) of the RIT Electrical Engineering Association. Ko Shwe Win was the Secretary.
- Later : Joint Secretary & Secretary
EE Magazine

EE Magazine
- Member of the Committee for the publication of “Hlyat Sit Sar Saung”
- Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War) was Chief Editor
- Ko San Oo, Ma Than Yi and Ko Myo Myint were Associate Editors.
Luyechun

Luyechun
- Selected to attend the Inlay Khaung Daing Luyechun Camp in the Summer of 1965.
- Ko Sein Shwe, Ma Khin Than Myint Tin & Ko Zaw Min were also selected as RIT LYC.
RUBC

Magazine
- Willie Soe Maung (Stroke), Kyaw Wynn (3), Hla Min (2), Maung Maung Kyi (Bow) and Myint Thein (Cox) were Senior Novices Runners-up in the Monsoon Regatta in 1963. Three — Willie, MMK & MT — are now GBNF
- Awarded Full Green at the end of the season
- Elected Honorary Treasurer in the last ever General Election
- Became Vice Captain the following year
- I was denied to be Captain by the higher authorities who abolished the Bye Laws
- Contributing Editor for the 90th Anniversary Issue of RUBC Magazine in 2013.
  Wrote the Prelude for each section. Also wrote three articles.
My Beloved Spouse

HM 2
- Caring mother of two sons, and and Grandmother of two lovely Myees
- Golden Jubilee in June, 2023.
Three Generations

HM 5

HM 6
- My parents
- My spouse and I
- Elder son
Anniversaries

HM 4

HM 7
- Some friends hosted lunch or dinner for our birthdays and wedding anniversaries.
- There are family-only gatherings as well.
Life Savers

Family 4

Family 1

Family 2

Family 3

Family 5

Family 7

Family 8

Family 9

Family 10

Family 11

Family 12

Family 13

Family 13

Relatives

Siblings

At ZMH’s Wedding

At ZMH’s Wedding

RUBC Captain and Gold (Father and Son)

My brother and nephew

Sons, nephews and nieces

Sons, nephews, nieces

Cousins

in Dec 53

Ye Than and family

Gatherings

SPZP-2000

SPZP-2000

Soon Kyway at Half Moon Bay

G 1

Sein Myint’s Soon Kyway at HMB

Ko Sein Myint’s grand daughter

Meeting at HMB

Meeting at Half Moon Bay

69er Gathering hosted by me

Gathering hosted by me

NorCal RITAA

Toastmasters

Awards

Distinguished Toastmaster

DTM 1

DTM 2

Halloween Themed TM Meeting

Halloween Themed TM meeting

Souvenirs

S 1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S9

Visit to Windsor, Canada

Saya U Aung Khin 1

U Aung Khin 2

Visit to Connecticut

Yale 1

Lunch gathering in Connecticut

Visit to Sydney in 2006

Sydney 1

Sydney 2

Visit to Mexico

Mexico

Most posts contain photos

Visits
- Ngapali
- Inlay
- UK
- Texas
Memories
- PPBRS
- SPHS
- RIT
- RUBC
- UCC
Writings
- Articles
- Fun
- Names
- Poems
- Translation
Videos
- 200+ Short talks
September 23, 2026
Fond Memories — 3
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

(1) Saya U Aung Khin

Highlights

U Aung Khin
- First native Professor of Mechanical Engineering at RIT.
- Studied at Lehigh University and a Canadian University.
- Moved to Canada.
- Gave the go-ahead signal for SPZP-2000
- Wrote articles for RIT Updates & HMEE
Trip to Windsor, Canada
- In July 2015, Ivan Lee (M69) provided his car & gas for a whirlwind trip to Canada and East Coast of USA.
- Fred Thetgyi (M69) drove most of the trip & also took photos.
With Saya & Ivan

Souvenir
- Visited Saya U Aung Khin (Former Professor of Mechanical Engineering) in Windsor, Canada
- Saya not only prepared breakfast for us but also gave us mementos.
(2) Saya Allen Htay

Highlights

SPZP-2000
- Leader, SF Bay Area Alumni
- Founder & President of RIT Alumni International, which hosted SPZP-2000
- Wrote, “Brother, can you afford $500 and more?” — resulted in Golden Sponsors for SPZP-2000
In Saya’s Memory

Donation
- Daw Mu Mu Kin donated saya’s books to YTU Library.
- She also provided financial assistance to eligible YTU students
(3) Saya U Aung Hla Tun

Highlights

U Aung Hla Tun
- Chief Editor of RIT Annual Magazine
- Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering
- Resident Elder of the Church of Holy Christ
- Leader, HMEE Project & Book
- Published two books. He won National Literature Award for the first book.
In Saya’s Memory
- U Nyunt Htay (Met73) & team published a book honoring Saya.
- A former student later published a book for Centennial of Engg Edu.
(4) My Souvenirs

Awards

Award in Aug 2016
- Received Alumni Appreciation Award three times : at SPZP-2000; at Half Moon Bay Soon Kyway & Gathering in Aug 2016; at Annual Dinner of
  NorCal RIT AA in Sept 2016
Award in Sept 2016
- Collegiate Scholarship in 1963
SPHS63
- Luyechun in Summer of 1965
LYC in 1965
- DTM Award received in 2017
DTM

Greeting Card

Card
- Electronic greeting card was printed by Maurice Chee
  and given to me at the Soon Kwyay gathering at Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California
Gifts
- Photo Mug from my Myees
- Dhamma Dana (CD player, Books)
Souvenirs

Posts
- Books
- Memories of PBRS
- Memories of RIT
- Memories of UCC
- Visits
September 22, 2026
Fond Memories — 1
by Hla Min

Update : September 2026

Saya U Aung Khin

2015

Saya U Aung Khin

Windsor
- In July 2015, Ivan Lee (M69) provided car & gas for the trip to Canada and East Coast of USA.
- Fred Thetgyi (M69) drove most of the way. Also took photos.
- Visited Saya U Aung Khin (Former Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
- Saya not only prepared breakfast for us but also gave us mementos.
- Saya stays fit by playing Tennis and Golf
Saya Allen Htay

Donations by Ma Ma Mu

Saya Allen & Daw Mu Mu Kin
- Founder and President of RIT Alumni International, which hosted SPZP-2000. See posts : Saya’s articles
- In memory of Saya Allen, Daw Mu Mu Kin donated saya’s books to YTU Library. She also provided financial assistance to eligible YTU students.
Donation by Daw Mu Mu Kin

Saya U Aung Hla Tun

U Aung Hla Tun
- Chief Editor of RIT Annual Magazine
- Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering
- Resident Elder of the Church of Holy Christ
- Leader of HMEE project
U Aung Hla Tun donating HMEE books to RU Central Library
- Published two books. He won National Literature Award for the first book.
- Despite failing health, he completed the second book and most of his three-year plan.
- In his memory, Saya U Nyunt Htay (Met73) & team published a book.
My Souvenirs
- Some are displayed on my desk
- Birthday Greetings in Aug 2016
- Collegiate Scholarship Winners from St. Paul’s High School in 1963
- Awards from Toastmasters International
- Alumni Appreciation Awards
- Photo Mug from my Life Savers
Souvenirs

Alumni Appreciation Awards

Award 1
- Misplaced the award received at SPZP-2000
- Second award received in August 2026 from Alumni Worldwide
- Third award received in September 2016 from NorCal RIT Alumni Association
Award 2

SPHS63

SPHS63

Hla Min
- Scholarship Winners
- Award ceremony at SPHS
- Invited to attend OPA (Old Paulians’ Association) Annual Dinner
Invitation from OPA

Toastmasters International
- DTM Award & Triple Crown received in 2017
DTM 1

DTM 2

Electronic Greeting Card
- Printed by Maurice Chee
- Given to me at the Soon Kwyay gathering at Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California
Gifts from my Myees

Myee 1

Myee 2
- Photo Mug
- Hand printed cards
- Father’s Day Gifts
Present from KMZ
- for Golden Jubilee in 2023
KMZ’s present

Uncle U Thein Han & Auntie Daw Khin Khin Htwe

U Thein Han
September 22, 2026
Three Anniversaries in 2024
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

2024 — နှစ်ပတ်လည် သုံးခု

Centennial of Engineering Education in မြန်မာပြည်

* 1924 — RU တွင် မြို့ပြအင်ဂျင်နီယာ သင်တန်း ဖွင့်လှစ် Civil Engineering class was offered at Engineering Department, Rangoon University

* B.Sc ဘွဲ့ ရ ကျောင်းသား များ နဲ့

I.Sc အောင် ကျောင်းသား များ

ကို စီစစ် လက်ခံ

60th Anniversary of RIT

* 1964 — တက္ကသိုလ် များ reorganize

* ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် Rangoon Institute of Technology

ပါမောက္ခချုပ် — ဦးရုံးမို U Yone Mo (Rector)

* ပထမနှစ် သင်တန်း — တက္ကသိုလ်ဝင်စာမေးပွဲ အောင် တွေကို ILA နဲ့ရွေး 1st BE

* ဒုတိယနှစ် သင်တန်း — I.Sc(A) အောင်တွေကို အမှတ်နဲ့ရွေး 2nd BE

* တတိယနှစ် သင်တန်း — I.Sc(B) အောင်တွေကို အမှတ် နဲ့ ရွေး 3rd BE

Silver Jubilee of RIT Alumni Newsletter

* 1999 — ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ကျောင်းသား ဟောင်းများ အတွက် သတင်း၊ ဓာတ်ပုံ၊ ဆောင်းပါး

* Founder / Editor: လှမင်း Hla Min

Newsletter

Contributions of U Hla Min

အဖွဲ့ဝင် Member

မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အင်ဂျင်နီယာ ပညာရေးသမိုင်း HMEE

HMEE Book

CD Supplement

Compiled for the HMEE Book with အုန်းခိုင် (M70) Ohn Khine

CD

HMEE စာအုပ် ကို RU စာကြည့်တိုက် မှာလှူ
Donated HMEE book to Universities Central Library & YTU Library

Book Donation

Highlights
- 1964 မှာ 2nd BE တက်ခဲ့
  Admitted to 2nd BE as Top student (Roll Number One)
2nd BE
- လူရည်ချွန် — 1965 Summer (အင်းလေး)
  Selected Luyechun (Outstanding Student) to the Inlay Khaung Daing Camp in the Summer of 1965
Luyechun
- Organizer, SPZP-2000
  First RIT Grand Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe
  Received “Alumni Appreciation Award”
SPZP-2000 Organizers
- Received three Alumni Appreciation Awards (a) at SPZP-2000 (b) from worldwide alumni in Aug 2016 (c) from Northern California RIT Alumni Association in Sep 2016
Award 1

NorCal RITAA

Award 2
September 21, 2026
My Benefactors
by Hla Min

Updated : September 2026

Sayas ဆရာများ

Parents & Relatives
- I pay respect to သင်ဆရာThin Saya, မြင်ဆရာMyin Saya and ကြားဆရာ Kyar Saya.They taught me all I knew.
- I would like to thank my mentors who directly or indirectly taught me Communication (Oral and Written) and Languages (English, Burmese, …)
- Last but not the least, a million thanks to my “လက်ဦးဆရာများ Let Oo Sayas” (my beloved parents).
My Parents

Learning English

I fondly remember the days that I had to study
- Tom Thumb’s Essays
- A Student’s Companion
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED — various sizes and editions),
- Chamber’s Dictionary (used in Scrabble tournaments)
- Rhyming Dictionary
- Word Power/Vocabulary in six weeks, 21 days, …
- Idioms (present from my uncle)
- They helped me improve my writing and communication skills.
- Thanks to all the authors, who are my implicit teachers.
- Still learning (especially during the “Shelter at Home” due to the COVID-19 Pandemic)
- Listen to the daily offering by Blinkist.com
- Listen to selected podcasts
Dr. Chit Swe (GBNF) ဒေါက်တာချစ်ဆွေ
- Sayagyi was my mentor at UCC.
- He invited over renowned computer scientists led by Professor Harry D. Huskey, Pioneer in Computer Hardware, Software and Teaching and mathematicians (e.g. Professor Frank Harary, Expert in Graph Theory) to Rangoon to hold seminars and to design courses in computer science and applications.
  Michael Stonebraker (then at UC Berkeley) gave a short course on Ingres (an early Relational Data Base Management System) at UCC. A few years back, he won the prestigious “ACM Turing Award” (which is considered as the equivalent of Nobel Prize in Computing).
- He taught us to use CPM/PERT (Critical Path Method / Programme Evaluation and Review Technique) for the various projects.
- Saya asked me to assist in several of his projects : translator/ reviewer for CTK (Children’s Treasury of Knowledge), editor for “High School Mathematics”, and
  TOSS (Team Of System Specialists).
- Saya passed away in November 2019, but his Legacy as Pioneer for Computer Systems, Application and Education in Burma will last forever.
Sydney 2006

U Soe Paing (EE, UCC) ဦးစိုးပိုင်

U Soe Paing
- My mentor at RIT and UCC
- He, Saya U Myo Min and Saya U Ko Ko Lay (GBNF) taught degree and diploma courses in computer science. They also conducted courses in computer programming, computer orientation, to name a few.
- The sayas asked me to be their assistant.
- Saya also allowed Saya U Aung Zaw (GBNF) and me to co-author texts, guides and manuals used at UCC.
Publications

SPZP-2000 Organizers
- Guardian
  Thanks to U Soe Myint (Chief Editor)
- Working People’s Daily (WPD)
  Thanks to U Ko Lay (Chief Editor) and Daw Khin Swe Hla (Editor)
- Forward magazine
  Thanks to Bohmu Ba Thaw (Maung Thaw Ka, Chief Editor) and U Sein Hla (Editor)
- Pan magazine
  Burmese publication
- Veda magazine
  Published by BARB
- Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung
  Commemorative Issues for SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007 and SPZP-2010 in Singapore
  Thanks to Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War)
- Swel Daw Yeik Magazine
  Commemorative Issues for SPZP-2012 and Shwe YaDu (2014)
  Thanks to Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War)
- RUBC magazine
  Commemorate issue for 90th Anniversary of the founding of RUBC
RUBC
- BAPS Newsletter
  Contributing Editor
- Dhammananda Newsletter
  Contributing Editor
- Paying Homage to Sayadaw U Silananda
  Contributing Editor
- Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife
  Contributor to the Burmese American section of the 3-volume encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
- National Foreign Languages Center
  Language Expert for the Burmese Language Project (Reading and Listening Comprehension)
- RIT Alumni International Newsletter
  Contributing Editor for 26 years
- hlamin.com
  3000+ articles
- Facebook
  Owner, Admin or Moderator of selected Facebook Groups
- Video Broadcasts
  Archived in Facebook and my You Tube Channel
Volunteering

I gained experience by volunteering as
- Several organizations in Myanmar and USA
- EC, Joint Secretary and Secretary of RIT EE Association
RIT EE Association
- Contributing Editor of RIT English Newsletter
- Treasurer and Vice Captain of RUBC
- Translator / Interpreter at Meditation Retreats
- Organizer, SPZP-2000
SPZP-2000
- Coordinator, World wide SPZPs in Singapore and Myanmar
- Docent at the Computer History Museum (at Mountain View, California
- Contributing Editor of the materials taught at the Summer Dhamma Camp at Dhammananda Vihara (at Half Moon Bay
- Area Governor, Club Coach, Contest Chair, Test Speaker, Club Ambassador at Toastmasters International
- Editor of several publications by Sayadaws (e.g. U Jotalankara) and friends (e.g. U Aung Zaw)
- Language expert at National Language Center
- Administrator and/or Moderator of selected Facebook Pages
- Owner and content creator of selected web sites (e.g. hlamin.com)
Parents and Ancestors

Parents

Last but not the least, my heartfelt thanks to my beloved parents and their philanthropic forebears for instilling me the passion to help humanity in general and to my alma mater. They believed that “Any thing that’s worth doing is worth doing well.”

Pay Back ကျေးဇူးဆပ်
- My beloved spouse told me that I should pay back to my alma mater, mentors and my beloved land.
- She reminded me that I should take care of my health to enjoy quality time with our Life Savers : Chit Sa Noe and Po Lone.
- I had paid back to my alma mater RIT where I studied from 1964 – 1969 by volunteering as Messenger and Organizer for 26 years.
  e.g. For SPZP-2000, I wrote 64 “Countdown to the Reunion” and 36 “Post_Reunion”.
- In 2018, I wrote “Memories of UCC”.
  I wrote a Summary for the magazine to commemorate the 30th anniversary of ICST.
- To commemorate the 19th anniversary (in April 2018) for “RIT Alumni International Newsletter” and the 45th wedding anniversary (in June 2018), I wrote several hundred posts covering a variety of topics.
- Since then, I have completed 2600+ posts.
  Revised most of them with feedback provided by my readers including Dr. Khin Maung U, Dr. Nyunt Wai (Victor), Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint & U Khin Maung Zaw.
- In April/May 2019, I celebrated 20th Anniversary as Founder-Editor of RIT Alumni International Newsletter
- In November 2019, I was invited as a Panelist to the 5th ILF (Irrawaddy Literary Festival) held in Mandalay.
- In December 2019, I attended the SPZP and Reunion Dinner of RIT 69er’s Golden Jubilee of graduation.
- I was invited to attend the 6th Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe of ICST / UCSY and the Annual mini-gathering of UCC Alumni.
- In January 2020, I was invited as a Special Guest for the 2020 PSA (Public Speakers’ Association) Tour to six cities in Upper Myanmar.
- I am continuing with adding / revising posts for hlamin.com and share some of them via Facebook pages (e.g. Life Long Learning, RIT Updates, RU Centennial) and my You Tube Channel.
- I am a Dreamer.
  I believe, “If one can dream, others will fulfill.”
Updates
- Several of those mentioned in the post are GBNF.
- In 2024, NorCal RITAA celebrated the 60th Anniversary of RIT and the Centennial of Myanmar Engineering Education.
69er Cap

69er Mug
September 19, 2026
Burma — Demonetization of Kyats 50 and 100 Notes

by Thein Han

Former Systems Engineer, IBM Burma

Updated : September 2026

Thein Han

It was on May of 1964 Myanmar Kyats 50 and 100 were ceased to to be legal tender and became worthless by the stroke of U Ne Win’s pen. This made most of the salary workers poor because they lost all their modest savings.

U Aung Khin, Manager of IBM World Trade Corporation (Burma) received a call from the Deputy Director, Ministry of Finance to come see him in regard to IBM machines rented by the Government Departments. U Aung Khin took me along when he went and saw the Deputy Director and we were told to help them with the tabulation of the currencies received from the citizens by using IBM DP Machines.

The government gave the citizens 7 days to surrender the demonetized 50 and 100 Kyat notes to the receiving stations in the villages, Townships and Districts in Myanmar. This gigantic operation was given to U Than Tu, Chief Account Officer of Rangoon Port Authority office. U Than Tu then made University of Rangoon the operation center for this job. It was a 24/7 day and night non-stop operation at the University.

IBM Engineers then had to move IBM DP Machines used by the War Office and National Planning Department to Convocation Building and class rooms. We had to recruit new English typists and train them as operators for 024 and 056 Punch card machines.

The student Recreation Center donated by Fulbright Association, USA was converted into a Dinning Hall for the workers of this operation. Free transportation and meal was provided to workers by the government, IBM’ers were also given meal coupons for breakfast and lunch.

U Aung Khin and I had discussion with U Ba Nyein, Board Member of Union Bank of Burma and U Than Tu in regard to the type of statements they would like to have to enable us to design the IBM Card and to program DP Machines for printing the required statements. The operation was a success and the government received the statements they want.

IBM Data Processing Machines

IBM Accounting Machines used for printing statements by programming the control panel on the side of the machine. These machines were used during the Demonetization of Kyats 100 and 50 notes. The lower machine is a Sorter to sort cards.

IBM 1

IBM 2

IBM 3

September 19, 2026