by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

Paying respect

• Paying respect to Sayas is a tradition that is unique to Myanmar.
• The tradition is alive and well.
• There have been seven world wide SPZPs :
  SPZP-2000 (US)
  SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007, SPZP-2010 (Singapore)
  SPZP-2004, SPZP-2012, SPZP-2016 (Yangon)
• I was fortunate to be a Core Organizer for SPZP-2000 and a Coordinator for the remaining SPZPs.

Alumni

Many alumni are active in the following:

• SDYF (Swel Daw Yeik Foundation)
• RITAA (RIT-YIT-YTU Alumni Association)
• NorCal RITAA (in the US)
• MES
• MEC
• HMEE-2018

History

• “History of Myanmar Engineering Education” was published in 2012.
• The project’s initiators included Saya U Soe Paing, Sayagyi U Ba Than and several sayas and alumni (See Acknowledgement in the Book)
• Saya U Aung Hla Tun and team compiled the book.
• Ko Ohn Khine (M70) and I compiled the CD Supplement for the HMEE-2012 book
• The draft for the first two sections were prepared by Saya U Soe Paing and team.
• Ko Ohn Khine translated Section 1 and summarized Section 2. The translations have been revised by Saya U Soe Paing.
• Saya U Aung hla Tun gave the copyright to RITAA.
• HMEE-2018 project is headed by Saya U Aung Hla Tun.
  Project will revise / enhance the HMEE-2012 book.
  Will cover the History of Engineering and Industries.

YTU Library Modernization Project

A decent Library is a requirement of the accreditation of YTU by Asean (and beyond).

Donations — large and small — are coming in.
Thanks to U Wynn Htain Oo (M72), Ma Nan Khin Nwe (83 Intake) and team.

The donors include

• U Khin Maung Tun (T78)
• Dr. Myo Khin (C70) and Daw Mya Nwe (C73)
• Daw Myint Myint (C69)
• Saya U Tin Htut (M60)
• James Shwe (M76) and Annette Shwe (A75)
• NorCal RITAA
• Alumni from Singapore, Australia and New Zealand

Archive

• The Library could have a section to help remember our beloved alma mater, our sayas and alumni activities.
• Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi endorsed Ko Benny Tan’s proposal to archive the mementos.
• Requested class representatives to record gatherings / activities.

Health Care Funds

• “Steeve and Helen Kay Health Care Fund for RIT Sayas and Sayamas”
• “Eye examination and assistance Fund provided by U Khin Maung Tun”.
• Balance of both funds have been handed over to Swel Daw Yeik Foundation.
• Other funds include 69er HCF, EE69er HCF, and those administered by the classes and groups (e.g. Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65)

Resources

• RIT related Facebook pages
• RIT related Google groups
• hlamin.com

Saya Allen Htay (C58)

• Leader of the San Francisco Bay Area Alumni Group
• Co-founded “RIT Alumni International” which hosted SPZP-2000 and served as President.
• His article “Brother, can you spare US $500?” is a classic.
• Daw Mu Mu Khin hosted a lunch in memory of Saya on December 31, 2017.
• In memory of Saya Allen, Daw Mu Mu Kin donated Saya’s books to the YTU library.
  Also sponsored scholarships for eligible YTU students.

Golden Sponsors

• U Thaung Sein (Steeve, EC70)
• U Benny Tan (M70)
• U Khin Maung Oo (Ivan Lee, M69)
• U Tin Myint (David Ko, M67)
• U Maung Maung Than (M79)
  
  The five Golden sponsors and other donors made sure U Nyo Win’s Act (requiring the organizers to chip in if SPZP-2000 will not have the minimum number of attendees) will not be needed.

2019

• Completed two decades as Chief Editor of RIT Alumni International Newsletter
• Compiled posts for the Golden Jubilee of 69ers
  Attended both events on December 14, 2019

2020

• Writing and revising posts in hlamin.com
• Request help to transform into digital and/or printed books for posterity

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

SPZP–2000

Formal and Informal Gatherings

• USA hosted the First RIT Grand Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in October 2000.
• The Celebrations kicked off with an Informal “Welcome” Dinner / Gathering” at a Sea Food Restaurant.
  The Main event was the Reunion and SPZP at Embassy Suites Hotel near San Francisco International Airport.
  The Family event was the “Farewell” Lunch / Gathering at a High School.

Donors

• Saya Allen Htay‘s article, “Can you spare US$500 and more?” was a major factor for having Donors — large and small — for SPZP-2000.
• There were Five Golden Sponsors.
  Steeve Kay (U Thaung Sein, EC70, Southern California)
  Benny Tan (Tan Yu Beng, M70, Northern California)
  Ivan Lee (U Khin Maung Oo, M69, New Jersey)
  David Ko (U Tin Myint, GBNF, M67, Northern California)
  U Maung Maung Than (M79, Texas)
  

SPZP-2000 Organizers

U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, EC76, web master) copied the names/tags from the very first posting from his album.

Sitting L-R: Saya U Mya Htoo (Civil 68), U Benny Tan (Yu Beng, Mech 70), Saya KC Chiu (Dr. Tin Aung, Chem 63), U Hla Min (EC 69) Editor Extraordinaire, Saya U Allen Htay (GBNF, Civil 58), Saya U Nyo Win (Dr. K H Chen, Mech 65), Saya U Tin Htut (Mech 60), Saya U Maung Maung (George, Chem 66), Daw San San Nyunt (Sandra, Mrs. Thein Aung, Mech 76)

Standing L-R: U Soe Aung (Mech 75), U Gordan Kaung (Kaung Kaung Oo, Mech 83), U Myint Swe (EP 74), U Anthony Ng (Aye Tun, Mech 76), U Mya Thwin (Phillip, EP 75), U Maurice Chee (Hla Myint Thein, Mech 75), U Thura Thant Zin (Mech 76), Sayalay U Thein Aung (James, Met 72), U Myint Lwin (Henry Chee, GBNF, Civil 63), U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, EC76), Daw Yi Yi Khaing (Audrey Wong, Civil 84), Daw San San Swe (Mrs Myint Swe, EC74)

All of them, except KMZ, live in various cities across Northern and Southern California. KMZ lives in a city near Seattle, Washington State.

Publications

• The Commemorative Issue of “RIT Alumni International Newsletter” was published for SPZP-2000.
  I served as Chief Editor. Henry Lim (U Aung Myint, BAPS) and U Thein Aung (Met72) volunteered as Associate Editors.
  Maurice Chee (M75) served as Publisher (in addition to being Co-Chair, Working Committee; Financial Controller; Logistics Head)
• It featured articles by Sayas and Alumni.
• My poem “SAYA PU ZAW PWE” was published in the Newsletter as well as in the ex-RIT website (designed and implemented by U Khin Maung Zaw). Several sayas and alumni contributed to the two series :
  64 “Countdown to the Reunion” articles
  and
  36 “Post-Reunion” articles
  

SAYA PUZAW PWE
Poem by Hla Min

S eems like it was only yesterday
A t our alma mater in a land far away
Y ou taught us to work, play, laugh, even cry
A nd coaxed us, forced us to aim for the sky

P roblems in real life, lab, computation, survey
U nderstand concepts, design, display, …
Z eal, zest, ardor, grit, passion to make it “our day”
A rchitects, engineers, we’ve come here to say
W e honor your metta, your cetana — we fully can’t repay

P resently we meet, alum from five decades we greet
W ith memories true, fond, sweet
E cstatic yet sad that the GBNF could not join this memorable fete

Notes

• The term “SAYA GADAW PWE” has religious connotations.
• Since the SPZP-2000 organizers and attendees profess different religions, the term SAYA PUZAW PWE (meaning honoring the mentors and paying respect to them for their metta and cetana) was chosen.
• GBNF means “Gone But Not Forgotten“.
• As of March 1, 2024. the GBNF list for the Class of 69 is 128 (about 40%).
• Of the 20 (or so) EE sayas of our RIT days, almost half are GBNF.

Singapore SPZPs

• Singapore hosted SPZPs in December 2002, April 2007 and December 2010.
• Saya U Moe Aung was Chair of SPZP-2002 and SPZP-2010.
• U Nyan Win Shwe (William, M72) chaired SPZP-2007.
• Commemorative Issue of “Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung” was published for each SPZP.
  Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War) served as Chief Editor.
• My poem “SAYA PU ZAW PWE” was reprinted on the Back Cover of SPZP-2002 Sar Saung.
• My poem “SWE DAW YEIK” was printed in SPZP-2007 Sar Saung. In my later writings, I use SWEL DAW (following Saya’s usage) instead of SWE DAW.
• My article “A Sad and Short Clip : EE Sayas” was published in SPZP-2010 Sar Saung”.

Yangon SPZPs

• Yangon hosted SPZPs in December 2004, December 2012 and December 2016.
• There was a slight earthquake on the day of SPZP-2004.
• A follow-up SPZP was scheduled for Yangon in December 2006, but changes in Political Climate dictated the SPZP to be rescheduled for Singapore in April 2007 (around Thingyan).
• SPZP-2012 was the first to be held at the Gyogone Campus.
• Thanks to H.E. U Aye Myint (EP72) for his initiative to bring back glory to our beloved alma mater, and to the sayas, sayamas, and alumni who made the “Home Coming Reunion” possible.
• There were tears of joys.
• On a sad note, the higher authorities transferred U Aye Myint to another Ministry before he could help the alma mater to the fullest extent.
• SPZP-2012 led to the founding of Swel Daw Yeik Foundation (SDYF), the Shwe YaDu Celebrations (with the planting of 50 Swel Daw Bins), and the RIT-YIT-YTU Alumni Association (ARITA) — to name a few.
• SPZP-2016 was a FREE All Day (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) at the Gyogone Campus.
• Due to the pandemic, SPZP-2000 was cancelled.
• Not sure if there will be a SPZP (as comprehensive as SPZP-2016) in a foreseeable future.
• Jara, Byadi and Marana have hit many sayas and alumni.

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

Events

Many events are covered in my posts & Newsletter Updates.

The following are some highlights for 1963 – 2025.

• Spent five years studying at RIT.
• Have spent 26 years paying back to my alma mater and my mentors.
• Thanks to my family members for their support.

1963

Matric Exam

• Took Matric Only exam in May
• Stood 7th in the whole of Burma. Honored at a ceremony at St. Paul’s High School.

• Won the Collegiate Scholarship of 75 kyats a month

• OPA invited us to the Annual Dinner on June 30.

• A newspaper clipping describing the Dinner is shown below. From R to L : Khin Maung U, Min Oo, Myo San, Nyunt Wai, Thein Wai, me & Maung Maung Kyi

• SPHS had five in the Top Five, seven in the Top Ten and ten in the Top Twenty in the Matric exam of 1963. Myo San (Freddie, 3rd), Maung Maung Kyi (11th) and Aung Thu Yein (13th) are now GBNF.
• All our SPHS teachers except Saya Beatson (Physics, Boy Scout) are GBNF. Saya became a monk.

Inter A

• Attended the last ever I.Sc.(A) classes at Leik Khone.

Rowing

• Joined Rangoon University Boat Club with fellow Paulians Maung Maung Kyi (GBNF), Kyaw Wynn and Willie Soe Maung (GBNF). Our crew was Runners up for the Senior Novices. We were awarded Full Green.
• Citing Security Concerns, the RUBC 40th Anniversary Regatta was canceled. Following the 7th July Anniversary protests, the University courses except Medicine & Engineering were suspended. The hostel students were ordered to return to their homes.
• Sithu U Tin (President, GBNF) decided not to cancel the RUBC 40th Anniversary Dinner at Orient Hotel in Kandawgyi. Several members are now GBNF.

1964 – 1969

• The I.Sc(A) exam was held at the High Schools.

RIT

• Attended first ever 2nd BE class at Rangoon Institute of Technology in November 1964.
• I was admitted as the Top student based on the I.Sc(A) exam marks.

Luyechun

• Selected Luyechun in 2nd BE. Attended the Inlay Khaung Daing Camp in the summer of 1965 along with Ko Sein Shwe, Ma Khin Than Myint Tin and Ko Zaw Min.
• The Luyechun program was started in the summer of 1964 with students from 7th to 10th Standards. In 1965, the program also included students from Universities & Institutes.
• Some Luyechuns — Kyaw Sein Koe (IM1), Khin Aye Than (Chemistry), Tun Naung (Dental), Than Sit (Sagaing) and Aung Kyaw Nyunt (Myingyan) — are now GBNF.

Associations

• Served as Joint Secretary, Secretary & Magazine Committee member of the RIT EE Association

• Served as the last ever officially elected Treasurer and Vice Captain of Rangoon University Boat Club. The higher authorities abolished the Bye laws and prevented me from becoming RUBC Captain.

Writing

• Started free lance writing (article, poem, translation …)
• Published the poem “Men on the Moon” in Guardian newspaper in July 1969. USIA sent a copy of the poem to NASA and the astronauts.

Graduation

• Graduated with B.E (EC).
• Of the 13 classmates, 12 graduated. Kyaw Soe, Aung Thu Yein, Chit Tin & Oo Kyaw Hla are now GBNF.

1970 – 1998

Work

• Universities’ Computer Center (UCC) : Computer Engineer, Sr. Systems Programmer, Business Application Manager

• Department of Computer Science (DCS) : Senior Lecturer
• Institute of Computer Science and Technology (ICST) : Associate Professor
• Tech Companies in the Silicon Valley : Member, Senior Member & Principal Member of Technical Staff

Publications & Projects

• Articles & translations in Guardian, Working Peoples’ Daily (WPD), Forward Magazine, Veda ဝေဒ Magazine, and Pan ပန် Magazine.
• Assisted Saya Dr. Chit Swe’s projects including High School Mathematics, Children’s Treasury of Knowledge (CTK), Team of System Specialists (TOSS)
• Wrote Computer Science, Programming & Lecture guides and UCC manuals with Saya U Soe Paing and Saya U Aung Zaw (GBNF).

• Per request from U Myint Sein (Principal, BARB), I assigned Ko Win Latt and Ko Zaw Tun Veda projects and supervised them. Their programs are used by Veda sayas, students & practitioners.

1999

Newsletter

• Started “RIT Alumni International Newsletter”
• It started with the news and photos of some gatherings back in Burma. (a) 30th Anniversary of the Graduation of the Class of 69 — reported by Ko Daniel Tint Lwin and Ma Saw Yu Tint (Alice)
  (b) Mini-gathering with Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi and other sayas and senior alumni — reported by Saya U Soe Paing

2000

SPZP-2000

• First RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in San Francisco, USA in October 2000
• Commemorative web pages (thanks to KMZ)
• Commemorative Issue of the RIT Alumni International Newsletter by me and team

• 64 Countdown to the Reunion posts
• 36 Post-Reunion posts

2002

SPZP-2002

• Second RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in Singapore
• Commemorative Issue of “Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung”
• by Saya U Moe Aung and team
• Reprinted my “SAYA PUZAW PWE” poem as Back Cover

2004

SPZP-2004

• Third RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in Yangon
• Mild earthquake did not rattle the attendees

2006

Three Gatherings in Sydney

• Visited Sydney, Australia to attend three gatherings
• RIT Alumni Dinner organized by Saya U Hla Myint, Saya U Myo Win (GBNF) & team

• UCC Alumni Gathering hosted by Saya U Aung Zaw (GBNF) and Daw Kyawt

• BOB Gathering at Olympic Park organized by Dr. Thann Naing (Bonnie Kywe)

2007

SPZP-2007

• Fourth RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in Singapore
• Commemorative Issue of “Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung” by Saya U Moe Aung and team
• Contributed a poem “SWE DAW YEIK”

UCC Gathering

• UCC gathering in Yangon hosted by Saya U Soe Paing & Daw Saw Yu Tint
• Ko Soe Myint & Ma Nge are now GBNF.

2010

SPZP-2010

• Fifth RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in Singapore
• Commemorative Issue of “Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung” by Saya U Moe Aung and team

• Contributed an article : Sad and short clip — EE sayas

2012

SPZP-2012

• Sixth RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in Yangon
• True “Home Coming” in the Gyogone Campus
• Special publication : History of University Engineering Education in Burma/Myanmar by Saya U Aung Hla Tun & team (Ko Ohn Khine & I compiled the CD supplement for the book)
• Publication: Selected RIT Cartoons
• Commemorative Issue of “Swel Daw Yeik Magazine” by U Saw Lin & team
• Limited reprints of 23 RIT Annual Magazines

2013

SDYF

• Swel Daw Yeik Foundation
• Contributions for various projects
• Health care for the sayas and sayamas

Soon Kyway

• For Golden Jubilee
• Gifts from KMZ, Zaw Tun & Kyu Kyu

2014

RIT Shwe YaDu

• 50th Anniversary of the opening of RIT in 1964
• Planted 50 Swel Daw Bins
• Commemorative Issue of “Swel Daw Yeik Magazine” by Saya U Moe Aung & team (Contributed an article : “Recollections of a 69er”)

• Paved Shwe YaDu lane and set up Swel Daw Yeik benches
• Translated Saya U Moe Aung’s Shwe YaDu poem

2016

SPZP-2016

• RIT/YIT/YTU Alumni Association
• Seventh RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in Yangon
• 10000+ attendees
• Free food and fun (all day and all night long)
• Platinum Jubilee for the Class of 69
• Hosted by some 69ers for their friends (in their sunset)

Appreciation Awards

• Soonkway at Half Moon Bay Monastery (organized by U Maurice Chee)

• Received Alumni Appreciation Award from alumni worldwide

• Annual Dinner by Northern California RIT Alumni Association

• Received plaque signed by Saya U Myat Htoo (Chair, BOD), U Kaung Kaung Oo (Gordon, President), and U Thaung Nyunt (Secretary)

Gatherings

• Attended SPZP-2016 and Platinum Jubilee of the Class of 69

2017

Post-SPZP

• Attended Post-SPZP2016 Gatherings

DTM

• Awards : Distinguished Toastmaster

2018

UCC & ICST

• Attended 5th Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe of ICST/UCSY
• Memories of UCC : 40+ posts
• Trivia : 2000+ posts
• Archived and revised posts in hlamin.com

2019

69er GJ

• Golden Jubilee of Graduation of the Class of 69

ILF

• Panelist, 5th Irrawaddy Literary Festival

2020

• PSA Tour in Jan 2020
• After announcement of pandemic in Feb 2020, many social activities were paused.

2021 – 2023

Visits

• Short visits (e.g Singapore, Malaysia)

NorCal RITAA

• Some social activities were resumed.

2024

Visits

• Short visits to Thailand and Laos
• Attended EE85 Reunion as Guest of Edward Saw (Yu Ket).

Celebrations

• NorCal RITAA celebrated Centennial of Engineering Education in Burma & 60th Anniversary of RIT
• Saya U Nyunt Htay, Mg Mar Ga & team organized the recording of video messages of some sayas & sayamas. They can be accessed from YouTube channel & website of NorCal RITAA.

2025 – 2026

• Still have good physical & mental health.
• Updating posts in my website
• Posts for RIT Updates
• Posts for Old Paulians
• Posts for Old Burma Group

Thanks

• My ancestors

• Family members
• သင်ဆရာ၊ မြင်ဆရာ၊ ကြားဆရာ
• Benefactors

by RIT Alumni

Updated : May 2026

• Dr. Soe Thein (C75) wrote :

ကျွန်တော် တို့ မမှီ လိုက်တဲ့ အင်ဂျင်နီယာ တွေနဲ့ ပါတ်သက် ခဲ့တဲ့လိပ်ခုံး BIT RIT အကြောင်း အရာ တွေကို နှစ်ပေါင်း ဆယ်စု များစွာ စံနစ် တကျ စဉ်ဆက် မပြတ် ရေးသား ပေးတဲ့ ရာသက်ပန် RIT သတင်း ပြန်ကြားရေး မှူး ဦးလှမင်း ကို အထူး ဂုဏ်ပြု အပ်ပါတယ်။

ဒီလို ထူးချွန် ​ပြောင် မြောက် တဲ့ သတင်း ပြန်ကြားရေး မှူး နောက် တယောက် ဘယ်တော့မှ ပေါ်ထွန်း နှိုင်တော့ မည် မဟုတ်ပါ။

Big big congratulations ပါ

ဦးလှမင်း

• Khin Aye Myint wrote :

Congrats to U Hla Min for his informative RIT, BIT history ..

• Aung Min wrote :

Junior များ

လက်ဆင့်ကမ်းကြလော့

• Aung Myaing wrote :

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away making you healthy and happy.

• Zaw Winn wrote :

My Appreciations Dear Senior,

Your affection for our Alma Mater is unparalleled and will be in our memories for ever.

• Mg Mar Ga wrote :

အကို့ကြောင့်သာဒိလိုမှတ်တမ်းမှတ်ရာတွေအသေအချာကျန်ခဲ့တာပါအကို့ခြေရာနင်းနိုင်ဖို့နောက်တယောက်ထပ်ရှိဖို့မလွယ်ပါတကယ်ပြောတာပါမှတ်ညဏ်ရယ်စေတနာရယ်အချိန်ပေးနိုင်မှုရယ်ဆောင်ရွက်တတ်မှုဆိုတာသာမန်လူလုပ်နိုင်ခဲလွန်းလှတယ်RIT Archive လုပ်ဖို့အကိုတအားတိုက်တွန်းခဲ့တာမှတ်မိတယ်ကြိုးစားစခဲ့ပေမဲ့တကယ်ကအကိုလုပ်ပြီးသားထက်ရေှ့မတိုးနိုင်ခဲ့ တကယ်ကိုရင်ထဲကချီးကျူးပါရ စေကျန်းမာသက်ရှည်လိုရာပြည့်ပါစေအကို

• U Myo Myint wrote :

Mg Mar Ga

ဆရာ U Hla Min စုဆောင်းပြုစုမှတ်တမ်းတင်နေတဲ့‌အားထုတ်လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များကို

ဦးဝင်းထိန်ဦးရဲ့မှတ်ချက်နဲ့ထပ်တူကျနော့်ရင်ထဲမှာလေးစားတန်ဖိုးထားချီးကျူးရပါကြောင်းနှင့်

ဆရာကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ပါးကျန်းမာ ချမ်းသာပါစေကြောင်း ထပ်ဆင့်ဆုတောင်းပါတယ်ခင်ဗျာ။

• Wai Lu wrote :

These are extraordinary records. Maybe superman @ genius @ techniques.

• San Lin wrote :

ပြီးခဲ့သမျှကို အရမ်းမှတ်မိသလို လုပ်လဲလုပ်နိုင်တဲ့ ဆရာဦးလှမင်း ကျန်းမာသက်ရှည်ပါစေ။

• U Hla Myint Rit wrote :

Thanks to all. VV Nice. Be mindful

Photos

by Zaw Min & Ohn Khine

Updated : Apr 2026

Editor : Hla Min

Ko Zaw Min (EP70)

• Matriculated from St. Albert’s High School, Maymyo in 1964.
• Had a very high ILA (Intelligence Level Aggregate)
• Admitted to the first ever 1st BE as Roll Number One.
• Selected RIT Luyechun for the 1965 Summer Camp at Inlay.
• His outspoken remarks about the Camp drew the ire of higher authorities.
• Graduated with Electrical Power in 1970.
• After working in the industry, he moved to the USA.
• Studied Electronics in the USA
• Added “Nawaday” to his name.
• Shared his memories of RIT to the Google group of “the Combined Intake of 1st BE for 1964 and 1965”.

Ko Ohn Khine (M70)

• Matriculated from St. Peter’s High School, Mandalay in 1964.
• Took a combination of Science and Arts subjects
• Had good ILA score to be admitted to RIT.
• Graduated with Mechanical Engineering in 1970
• Worked for Heavy Industries Corporation
• Created and maintained the the Google group of “the Combined Intake of 1st BE for 1964 and 1965”.
• Volunteer for SPZP-2012, SPZP-2016, HMEE-2012, HMEE-2018, Swel Daw Yeik Foundation and several RIT-related activities.
• Gave me rides during my visits to Yangon.
• Co-author
• Filled the “missing pieces” in Ko Zaw Min’s accounts.

Ko Hla Min (EC69)

• Matriculated from St. Paul’s High School in 1963.
• Stood 7th in the whole of Burma
• Received Collegiate Scholarship
• Top in the Science Option of I.Sc.(A) examination
• Admitted to the first ever 2nd BE in November 1964 as Roll Number One.
• Selected Luyechun for the Inlay Khaung Daing Camp in the Summer of 1965
• Graduated with Electrical Communications in 1969.
• Started the “RIT Alumni International Newsletter” in 1989 and have maintained it for 26 years.
• Administrator or Moderator of selected Facebook pages.
• Own web site
  hlamin.com
• Had the honor to edit the draft version of “Memories by Ko Zaw Min Nawaday & Ko Ohn Khine” which was first posted as Google Docs for the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65.
• Published the edited document as a series of articles in “RIT Alumni International Newsletter and Updates”.

Introduction

Intakes in 1964

There were three intakes at the Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT) when the new education system started in 1964. Eligible students were admitted to the 1st BE, 2nd BE and 3rd BE classes. They are also known as

• Class of ’70 (1st BE Intake in 1964)
  Matriculates were admitted using the ILA
• Class of ’69 (2nd BE Intake in 1964)
  Those who had passed I.Sc.(A) with Science Option were admitted in order of merit
• Class of ’68 (3rd BE Intake in 1964)
  Those who had passed I.Sc.(B) with Science Option were admitted in order of merit

The RIT Rector was U Yone Mo and the Registrar was U Soe Thein.

The Class of ’70

It comprised of the first year intake students in 1964. There were 494 registered students, of which 67 were female. Most graduated in 1970. Some took sabbatical for a year or two. A few left RIT before graduation. The GBNF (Gone But Not Forgotten) reached 138 at the end of May 2025.

Matriculates entered the first ever 1st BE classes. ILA (Intelligence Level Aggregate) was used for the vetting of applicants. In the system, a score of 1 to 20 was assigned to map the marks for each subject. The ILA score (rather than the raw marks) was used to determine the eligibility of the students admitted to an institute.

Under the old education system, matriculates had to attend I.Sc. (A) classes. There were restrictions on the subjects taken at Inter classes to be eligible for Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, etc. For example, one must pass the I.Sc. with at least 50 marks in Maths, Physics and Chemistry to attend the 1st Year Engineering Classes (3rd BE in the new system).

Under the new education system, there were no restrictions on the subjects taken in Matric exam. As such, many students who passed Matric with combined Science and Arts subjects and even those with pure Arts subjects were able to attend RIT. For example, Ko Ohn Khine passed the Matric exam with an odd combination of Maths, Chemistry and Geography.

Posts

• 1st BE (1964 – 65)
• 2nd BE (1965 – 66)
• 3rd BE (1966 – 67)
• 4th BE (1967 – 68)
• 5th BE (1968 – 69)
• 6th BE (1969 – 70)

by Hla Min

Updated : Apr 2026

• Some are unfortunate to lose one or both parents in their youth.
• Some are fortunate to have one or both parents in their 90’s and beyond.
• A few had a parent over 100.

Mother of Ivan Lee (M69)

Ivan is a Golden Sponsor for SPZP-2000 & SPZP-2007. He is an early supporter of the first RIT web site. He is a major donor for the 69er Health Care Fund.

He lost his father when he was young. His mother raised the children and also managed to stay healthy beyond the Century mark.

Ivan e-mailed us when his mother turned 100. It had the birthday card sent to his mother from the 43rd US President George W. Bush.

Ivan e-mailed again when his mother turned 101. It had the birthday card sent to his mother from the 44th US President Barack Obama.

We heard sad news from Ivan the following year. His mother passed away at the age of 102. She was alert until the final days. She played two hours of Mah Jong daily.

Let Oo Saya လက်ဦးဆရာ

I am fortunate to have parents who lived beyond 80, but not fortunate enough to have them around to see and appreciate my posts.

My beloved mother

She lost her mom a few days after her birth. She made up for her loss by giving her metta (unbounded love) and cetana to the children and grandchildren. She kept a list of all the birthdays and anniversaries, and would be usually the first to wish. Even though she had maids, she would get up early & prepare breakfast for us. She also supervised the homework of her children, nephews and nieces.

I paid homage to her in my Newsletter & Updates for SPZP-2000.

My beloved father

He was a youth when he was given only three months more to live by the then best doctors in Rangoon. He had a Near Death Experience. His younger brothers cried thinking that he had died.

My dad told his brothers : “I was walking happily along a bund when a holy man stopped me and said, “Young man, you have to do sasana work. Do not go beyond this point.” Sensing that I was reluctant to end my walk, the man pushed me.”

Luckily, an indigenous medicine man named “Ga Doke Saya Gyi” treated my dad and even parted some of his medical knowledge.

He built pagodas starting with Dat Paung Zon Aung Min Gaung Pagoda (ဓာတ်ပေါင်းစုံအောင်မင်းခေါင်စေတီ). His photo hangs in the Hall along with his grandparents who who bought the land where the pagoda was built.

He also helped renovate pagodas.

I paid homage to him in my Newsletter & Updates for SPZP-2000.

My parents

During my school days, they gave me 25 pyas as pocket money. They wanted to make sure that I study hard. They would give bonus prizes only when I excelled in the exams.

They provided us :

• Remington English typewriter
• Olympia Burmese typewriter

• Dictionaries
• Myanmar Swel Sone Kyan (Encyclopedia)
• Reader’s Digest Magazine & Books
• Student’s Companion
• A book for Idioms
• Grammar : Wren and Martin
• King’s English : Fowler & Fowler
• How and Why
• Fun with Mathematics
• Classics Illustrated
• Junior Classics Illustrated
• Bedin : Saya Maukဆရာမောက်
• Palmistry : Cheiro
• History : Second World War
• Sports equipment
• Bicycle
• Scooter
• Car

My beloved parents would have smiled to hear my grand daughter say, “Who’s your doctor? What happened?” after I returned from a clinic. She added, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. I love you.”

She must have inherited the loving kindness of her great grand parents.

She won the Super Reader and Scholastic Achievement Awards. She loves Swimming, Soccer, Basketball, Singing, Playing music, Dancing and Painting.

My grand son is athletic. He plays competitive Soccer. He loves Cycling, Kung Fu, Basketball, Swimming, Piano and Video Games. He is sociable.

Poem and Song

I would like to share a poem and a variant of a song that I learnt in my youth.

Father (Poem)

Be kind to your father
For when you were young
Who loved you as friendly as he
He caught the first accent
That fell from your tongue
And joined in the heavenly glee.

Be kind to your father
For now he is old
His hair intermingled with grey
His footsteps are feeble
Once fearless and bold
Your father is passing away.

The version that we learned at school use archaic words like Thee, Thou, Thy and Locks. I have replaced them by the current usage : You, You, Your and Hair.

Mother (Song)

M is for the mercy she possesses
O means only that she’s growing old
T is for her tender sweet caresses
H is for her heart of purest gold
E means every thing she’s done to save me
R means right and right she’ll always be

Put them all together
They spell MOTHER
A word that means a world to me.

M is for the million things she gave me
O means that I owe her all I owe
T is for the tears she shed to raise me
H is for the hands that touch and hold
E means every thing she taught me
R means rare and special she’ll always be

Put them all together
They spell MOTHER
A word that means a world to me.

In some countries, there is Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

For us, everyday is Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Parent’s Day.

Dear beloved parents, I’m sure you will be in the good abodes. I want to thank you for your unbounded love and for your belief “Every thing that’s worth doing is worth doing well”.

A1 Centurion

Posts

• Father’s Day
• Mother’s Day

by Hla Min

Updated : Apr 2026

Gifts

Pon Tu

• From Bagyee Myat Myo Myint (U Myo Myint)

• See Post — Pon Tu

SPZP-2000

• Sayagyi U Ba Toke (GBNF) gave me a set of Coasters

• U Tun Aung (Jefferey, GBNF) gave me a commemorative pen

• U Aye Win Hlaing (Abel) & Daw Phyu Phyu Latt (Christine) gave me a toy bear.

2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles

• U Aye Lwin (GBNF) gave me a miniature painting

• U Khin Maung Tun gave me indigenous medicine and a CD player loaded with dhamma talks.

Yangon

• M72 gave me “Thamudaya Kyaung” CD.

• Saya Moe & U Nyunt Htay gave me books, magazines & sar saungs.

• Daw Gyn Yu gave me Balashin ဗလရှင် and Thai balm.

• Saya U Ba Toke gave me an autographed copy of his book.

Golden Jubilee

• From KMZ

• From Zaw Tun & Ma Kyu

Guests of

Dr. Soe Thein

• He invited me to attend the Civil Engineering Gathering (held before SPZP-2007) and introduced me to the audience. He invited me to attend the C-75 dinner held at M3 in Yangon in 2012.

Class of 70, 71 & 72

• Attended meetings of Combined 1st BE intake of 64 and 65, and the group’s Reunion and Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe.

• Attended gatherings (PZP, Dinner, Lunch) by the Class of 72 in general and M72 in particular.

Steeve Kay

• Meeting alumni in Los Angeles
• QTC Anniversary
• 40th Anniversary of Arrival in USA

• Special Reunion & Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe

Hosts

Singapore

• Ko Tin Aung Win (C81, UCC) hosted me during my trip to Singapore to attend SPZP-2007.
  He treated me (individually & with group) during my other visits.

• Ko Win Latt (UCC)

• Ko Zaw Tun (UCC) & Ma Kyu

• Ko Ngwe Soe (UCC) & Ma Nu

• Ma Pale (UCC) & Ko Ye

California

• Saya U Tin Htut

• U Tin Htoon

• U Aung Khin

• Ma Phyu Phyu Kyaw

Texas

• Dr. Ba Han & Lillian

• U San Lin (Robert) & Marina

• Thamee KZO & Myo

• U San Myint Thane (Sammy)

Canada

• Saya U Aung Khin

• Saya Dr. Aung Gyi & Daw Emma

East Coast

• Ivan Lee

• Fred Thetgyi

• Dr. L Sein Myint
• U Wynn Myint Aung (GBNF)
• U Htin Lin
• Uncle U Thein Han & Aunty
• U TAG & Daw KMM
• Tom & Kim

Some Invitations

• Ko Htay Aung (Victor) invited me to attend the RIT Alumni Dinner Gathering in Sydney in 2006.

• Saya U Ba Than (GBNF) took me to Mech Engineering sayas’ lunch gathering at Kone Myint Tha.
• Ko Thant Zin (GBNF) invited me to attend the inaugural All Mech Gathering at Dolphin restaurant.
• Ko Ohn Khine & others invited me to join another All Mech Gathering at a restaurant in Pyithu Yin Pyin.
• Ko Wai Lwin & friends invited me to join two Dinner gatherings : Feel restaurant to celebrate Daw Emma Gyi’s birthday, and at Ko Nyan Tun U’s compound to welcome Sayas Dr. Aung Gyi & Dr. San Hla Aung.
• Thanks to hosts of 69er monthly breakfast gatherings, lunch gatherings, annual dinner & entertainment. Ko Aung Min & team; Sponsors, Donors, Guitarists, Vocalists & Dancers

Appreciation Awards

• At SPZP-2000
• On August 20, 2016, Maurice Chee organized a birthday Soon Kyway at Dhammanda Vihara, Half Moon Bay.
  Several sayas and alumni brought sumptuous dishes and desserts. I received “Alumni Appreciation Award” (for the second time).
• At the Norcal RITAA Annual Dinner in 2016, I received “Alumni Award” (for the third time).

Transportation

USA

• KMZ
• Ivan
• L Sein Myint
• Wynn Myint Aung
• San Myint Thein
• San Lin (Robert)
• Benny
• Maurice
• Aung Myint Oo
• Yu Ket (Ed Saw)
• Myint Swe
• Tin Maung Win
• Ko Ko Zin
• Kyi Aung (Roland)
• Phyu Phyu Kyaw (UCC)
• and more provided me rides in the USA.

Singapore

• Khin Maung Myint & nephew
• Tint Lwin (Daniel)
• Tin Aung Wynn
• Ngwe Soe (Silver)
• Zaw Tun
• Pale
• and more provided me rides in Singapore

Yangon

• Ko Myo
• Aung Min
• Khin Mg Bo (Allan, GBNF)
• Kyaw Min Thein (Kenneth)
• Kyaw Zin
• Myint Thein (Kabar, GBNF)
• Myo Nyunt
• Than Win
• Tin Aung Win (Oscar)
• Tin Win
• Win Maung (Lake)
• Zau Lai (Duwa)
• Ohn Khine
• Saw Lin (GBNF)
• Myint Pe
• Tin Oo
• Mg Mar Ga
• Ye Myint
• Pansy Thin
• U Win
• Dr. Sann Oo
• Hla Win
• Than Tun
• Kyaw Phone Myint (Victor, MARB)
• Edwin Ngwe (SPHS)
• Aung Myin Bo (MARB)
• KK (Smart)
• Mar Mar Soe (UCC)
• Saw Yan Naing (ICST)
• Kyaw Min, Dr. (SPHS)
• and more provided me rides in Yangon.

Gatherings

• Singapore gatherings : M73 Group & Saya Winston, Daniel & 69er Group, RIT-UCC Alumni

• Alumni gatherings in SF Bay Area : RIT Alumni International; Norcal RITAA;
  Celebrations (birthday, anniversary); Welcome sayas & alumni (out of state); Ko Aung Myaing & Ma Gyn Yu

• Saya U Soe Paing & Ma Alice
  Many gatherings at their house
• Saya U Tin Htut : Hosted me at his new house; Took me to BASES dinner and Soon Kyway the following day
• Dr. Sann Oo & Ma Than Yi :
  Dinner in 2016; Lunch & Tour of their hospital in 2019

• Ko Aung Kyaw Myint (Eddie Shein : Wedding reception of his daughter (Medical doctor in Australia)
• Don Min U Yu Swan & Sayama Emma Myint : Several sessions of food & entertainment

• Ko Nyunt Htay : Shwe Bei
• Dr. Win Aung : Dinner after East Coast Reunion

Kudos to

• Contributors of articles, news
  and photos

• Those who provided Feedback,
  Corrections & Captions

• Organizers & Volunteers of RT-related activities
• All who have kept the RIT Spirit alive and well
• I belong to several circles and communities. I may have missed some non-alumni & related gatherings.

Feedback

Aung Min wrote :

Junior များ

လက်ဆင့်ကမ်းကြလော့

My reply :

Need organizers like U Aung Min

Aung Myaing wrote :

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away making you healthy and happy.

Zaw Winn wrote :

My Appreciations Dear Senior,

Your affection for our Alma Mater is unparalleled and will be in our memories for ever.

Mg Mar Ga wrote :

အကို့ကြောင့်သာဒိလိုမှတ်တမ်းမှတ်ရာတွေအသေအချာကျန်ခဲ့တာပါအကို့ခြေရာနင်းနိုင်ဖို့နောက်တယောက်ထပ်ရှိဖို့မလွယ်ပါတကယ်ပြောတာပါမှတ်ညဏ်ရယ်​စေတနာရယ်အချိန်ပေးနိုင်မှုရယ်ဆောင်ရွက်တတ်မှုဆိုတာသာမန်လူလုပ်နိုင်ခဲလွန်းလှတယ်RIT Archive လုပ်ဖို့အကိုတအားတိုက်တွန်းခဲ့တာမှတ်မိတယ်ကြိုးစားစခဲ့ပေမဲ့တကယ်ကအကိုလုပ်ပြီးသားထက်ရေှ့မတိုးနိုင်ခဲ့ တကယ်ကိုရင်ထဲကချီးကျူးပါရ စေကျန်းမာသက်ရှည်လိုရာပြည့်ပါစေအကို

U Myo Myint wrote :

Mg Mar Ga

ဆရာ U Hla Min စုဆောင်းပြုစုမှတ်တမ်းတင်နေတဲ့‌အားထုတ်လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များကို

ဦးဝင်းထိန်ဦးရဲ့မှတ်ချက်နဲ့ထပ်တူကျနော့်ရင်ထဲမှာလေးစားတန်ဖိုးထားချီးကျူးရပါကြောင်းနှင့်

ဆရာကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ပါးကျန်းမာ ချမ်းသာပါစေကြောင်း ထပ်ဆင့်ဆုတောင်းပါတယ်ခင်ဗျာ။

Wai Lu wrote :

These are extraordinary records. Maybe superman @ genius @ techniques.

San Lin wrote :

ပြီးခဲ့သမျှကို အရမ်းမှတ်မိသလို လုပ်လဲလုပ်နိုင်တဲ့ ဆရာဦးလှမင်း ကျန်းမာသက်ရှည်ပါစေ။

U Hla Myint Rit wrote :

Thanks to all. VV Nice. Be mindful

Photos