Category: RIT Saya

  • BASES

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    Background

    • Name suggested by U Tun Aung (Jeffery, EC68, GBNF)
    U Tun Aung
    • Burmese American Society for Engineers and Scientists
    • Southern California, USA

    Founders

    • Saya U Tin Htut (M60)
    U Tin Htut
    • U Tin Htway (M59)
    • U Tun Tin (David, GBNF)

    Past Presidents

    • U Tin Htut
    • U Tin Htway
    • U Tun Tin
    • U Tun Aung ( Jefferey, EC68, GBNF)
    • Saya Dr. Tin Win (M62)
    Dr. Tin Win
    • Saya Dr. Chris Lee (EE59)
    • U Khin Maung Lay (Henry, T68)
    • U Tin Nwe (Milton, C68)
    • U Thura Thant Zin (M76)
    U Thura Thant Zin 1
    U Thura Thant Zin 2
    With Dance Troupe
    • John Huntley

    Activities

    • Fundraiser
      Kyan Yay (Sugar Cane Drink)
      Htamane
      Food & Desserts
    BAP Booth selling Sugar Cane Drink
    • Annual Dinner & Entertainment
    • Trips
    • Helped 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles
    2015 Reunion 1
    2015 Reunion 2
    2015 Reunion 3
    • Active in Activities sponsored by SCBA (Southern California Burmese Associations)

    Notes

    • Many members are RIT alumni. Some volunteered for SPZP-2000 held in San Francisco.
    • U Aung Khin (EP68) is Past Vice President
    • James Shwe (M76) is a Donor and EC.
    • U Khin Maung Lay (Henry) served as Emcee for BAPS gatherings and 2015 Alumni Reunion. He was Secretary of RIT Track & Field Association. He represented RIT in Soccer, Rowing and T&F. He loves Cooking.
    • I attended BASES gatherings as Guest of EC and/or Saya U Tin Htut.
    • Mra Tun (UCC, TAMPS) and Ricky Zaw are guitarists & vocalists. Ricky’s sister is Nyunt Nyunt Zaw (T68, GBNF).
    2015 Reunion
    • NorCal RITAA invited selected BASES EC to the gatherings.
    NorCal RITAA Dinner

    Posts

    • Alumni
    • Associations
    • Fund Raising
    • Gatherings
  • Nyunt Htay

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    Highlights

    Nyunt Htay 1

    High School Luyechun

    • Luyechun (လူရည်ချွန်) for 9th & 10th standards. Present at the first Luyechun Camp was Thinchar Chun (သင်္ချာချွန်) Kyaw Myint (later T72 grad, MARB President)

    Metallurgical Engineering

    Nyunt Htay 2
    • Graduated from RIT in 1973 with Metallurgical Engineering
    • Taught Metallurgical Engineering
    • Retired as Associate Professor
    • Wrote articles about the Department, Sayas & Students

    Passion

    • Poetry, writing & editing
    • Pen name : Maung Nyunt Htay (Ah Htet Min Hla) မောင်ညွန့်ဌေး (အထက်မင်းလှ)
    Nyunt Htay 3
    • Editor, RIT Annual Magazine
    • Chief Editor, Myanmar Mudita Sar Saung
    Myanmar Mudita
    • Contributor, Poetic Art Series
    • Co-author, Collection of Swel Daw Yeik Poems
    Book of Poems

    Family members

    • Two daughters
    • Several “Myee” cats.

    Health

    • Had a brush with Covid-19 and received support from the alumni and/or SDYF.
    • Recovered fully
    • Some sayas, sayamas and 9 Metallurgy alumni (including Maung Tun, 69er) succumbed to Covid.

    Memories

    Book Presents

    • Gave me the Myanmar Mudita Sar Saung
    • Gave me an autographed copy of “Swel Daw Kabyar Collection” by him and four RIT Poets : Saya U Moe Aung, Saya U Aung Myaing, U Win Myint (M72) and U Toee Maung.

    2015 RIT Alumni in Los Angeles

    • Attended the gathering with Metallurgy Saya U Win Kyaw (Met71),
    • Other Metallurgy attendees include Saya U Thein Aung (Met72), Sayama Dr. Naing Naing Aung (Met91) & Ko Thiri Nyunt (musician).

    Gathering at iNapa Winery

    At iNapa Winery
    • Metallurgy sayas and Ko Thiri Nyunt attended the Lunch, Dinner & Entertainment at iNapa winery hosted by Gordon Kaung (M83) and Lillian (EC83).
    • The attendees paid respect to Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi. On behalf of Bagyee Myat Myo Myint, U Nyunt Htay presented a Pon Tu to Sayagyi.

    Micro-gathering in 2019

    • During my visit to Yangon in late 2019, U Nyunt Htay hosted a micro gathering at Shwe Bae.
    • U Win Kyaw picked me and Saya U Ye Myint (ChE70) to attend the gathering.
    Micro-gathering

    Kabyar by Saya Moe

    Saya Moe

    ” ကဗျာဆရာ… သို့ “

    လွတ်လပ်ခြင်းဆိုသည့် မြေပေါ်…
    မတော်တဆလား
    ခြေချော်ခဏအလား
    မွေးဖွားလာရခရီးစခဲ့….။

    “ခုနစ်ဆယ့်သုံး…”
    ဝရုန်းသုန်းကား
    ခေတ်ဖဝါးအောက်
    ကျရောက် ရှည်ကြာ
    ဘယ်မှာ ဘယ်တော့
    မော့မော့ ပေါ့ပါး
    ဝန်အား မပိ
    လွှင့်ဘိ ကြယ်တံခွန်
    မိုးစွန်ထိပ်ဖျားတက်နိုင်ငြားအံ့…။

    တပ်လှန့် ခရီးပြင်း
    ဝေးနေရင်း က
    နီးခြင်း မယိမ်းမယိုင်
    ဟော..ဟိုမှာပန်းတိုင်ဟေ့…
    ဆုပ်ကိုင်မိ တစ်ဘဝ
    အလှ သစ္စာတရား
    ဖွားသစ်ရနံ့ သင်းပျံ့လှိုင်…။ ။

    (မောင်ညွန့်ဌေး-အထက်မင်းလှ .. မွေးနေ့သို့)
    တက္ကသိုလ် မိုးဝါ
    ၄ -၁ -၂၀၂၂

  • Aging

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    Senior

    I felt uncomfortable to be addressed as “Ah Ba”, “Pho Pho” and to be offered assistance (e.g. wheelchair).

    I now feel OK to use wheelchair at air ports and to have people assist me when I climb up & down hill slopes. I had a couple of bike rides on dirt roads.

    I enjoy senior discounts for trains, buses & restaurants.

    I hope that my mental faculties will remain sharp and strong.

    Jara (old age) caught even the sport stars like Sayagyi U Ba Toke.

    Sayagyi U Ba Toke

    Phwa Bet Taw

    Saya is a Phwa Bet Taw of Rangoon University and the first Rangoon University Students’ Strike in December 1920.

    SPZP-2000

    In 2000, Theingi (Saya’s youngest daughter) conveyed us Saya’s wishes to attend SPZP-2000. U Maung Maung Than (M79, Texas) had donated a round trip ticket. Several sayas & alumni donated expenses. Details can be found in “Count down to the Reunion” articles.

    SPZP-2000

    Birthdays

    Saya 2

    He celebrates his birthdays with his children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren.

    Saya‘s birthday

    Longevity

    Saya gave a speech in SPZP-2007 about “Longevity”. He visited a house in USSR where the 80+ year old host explained about the noise up stairs. “Don’t worry. It’s my 100+ year old uncle quarelling with his fourth wife. They will make amends.”

    Garawa

    During my visits to Yangon, I paid respect to Saya.

    U Ohn Khine (M70) gave me a ride in 2012. Saya gave us autographed book. We enjoyed Sayagyi’s accounts. He was a football star, a leader of the Burma Olympic Delegation, and an excellent teacher. Up to his early 80s, he could walk to the Shwe Dagon pagoda with his friends. In his 90s, Sayagyi lost some mobility, eye sight and hearing, but he was determined to attend SPZPs.

    Book

    In 2016, Saya’s son U Ye Myint and daughter Daw Thynn Thynn (Pansy) made arrangements to give us rides to and back from Saya’s house.

    U Ba Toke

    In 2018, I called Ma Theingi and asked about Sayagyi. She mentioned that Sayagyi is healthy but because he had lost most teeth, she has to listen carefully to grasp his message.

    Saya passed away on December 2, 2020. It was the day after RI U Centennial. It was a few days short of his Centennial Birthday on December 26.

    U Ba Toke 2
    U Ba Toke 3
    U Ba Toke 5
  • U Ba Toke & U Ba Than

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    Garawa

    • U Ba Than usually visits and pay homage to his saya U Ba Toke at least once every year.
    • Both are our Sayagyis.

    January 2017

    • Pansy (Thynn Thynn, ChE 74) asked her daughter & son-in-law to pick up Saya U Ba Than (86 years), Saya U Tin Htut (79 years) and me to see her father Sayagyi U Ba Toke (96 years).
    • Sayagyi has some problems with mobility & vision, but his mind remains crisp & clear.
    • He was born on Dec 26, 1920. Rangoon University opened on Dec 1, 1929. They are “Phwa Bet Taws”.
    • Sayagyi deferred celebrating his birthday so that three of his grandchildren abroad could come back & join the celebration.
    • Sayagyi is pre-deceased by his beloved spouse, daughter (Kitty) and son (Soe Win).
    • He has six remaining children : Betty, Ye Myint, Nellie, Pansy, Tammy & Debbie
    • Pansy has offered transportation (within Rangoon) to Sayas who want to visit her father

    Book

    Book
    • A detailed account of Sayagyi has been covered by Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (“Maung Thin Char”).
    • I received an autographed copy during a previous visit. The book may need a reprint.

    Memories

    SPZP-2000

    • Ko Maung Maung Than (M79, Texas) donated a roundtrip ticket to invite a Saya from Myanmar to attend SPZP-2000.
    • Debbie (Saya’s youngest daughter) relayed Saya’s wish to attend SPZP-2000.
    • Ko Zaw Min Nawaday (EP70) offered accommodation for Saya, Ko Ye Myint & spouse.
    • Several sayas and alumni donated towards Saya’s expenses for the trip. Some offered to show Saya around the SF Bay Area.
    SPZP-2000
    SF Bay Area

    SPZP-2007

    • Saya was asked about Longevity.
    • Saya recounted his experience in USSR. The host said, “Do not worry about the noise upstairs. It’s my 100+ years young uncle quarreling with his fourth wife. They will make peace soon”.

    SPZP-2012 & 2016

    • Saya needed assistance to attend the SPZPs.
    • Even some younger Sayas needed wheelchair.

    RU Centennial

    • Due to pandemic, most events were broadcast or held online.
    • Saya passed away on Dec 2, 2020 — the day after the RU Centennial.

    GBNF

    • Sayagyi U Ba Toke passed away a few days short of his Centennial birthday
    U Ba Toke
    • U Ba Than passed away after his 94th birthday
    U Ba Than
    • Dr. Khin Maung Swe passed away in his 80s
    Dr. Khin Maung Swe
  • U Tin U

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    • Scholar Athlete
    • Survived a Kidnapping (with intent to kill him)
    • Had good memory and strong hands until his final days
    Tin U
    • Passed away in Yangon on August 19, 2025
    • He was 96 years young.

    Obituary

    Obituary

    Final Journey

    • Attended by Family members, relatives and friends
    Invitation for Yet Le Soon Kyway
    Aye Aye Khin (Daughter)
    Thin Thiri Tun (Granddaughter)

    Academic & Experience

    • BSCE (Oregon State University)
    • MSCE (Yale University)
    • Former Part-time Lecturer, Civil
    • Former Director, Clark & Grieg
    • Former Advisor, InterKiln
    • Former Advisor, PWD Architect Group 2
    • Oldest & Most Senior Past Captain, Rangoon University Boat Club
    • Past Captain, Rangoon Golf Club
    • Former Treasurer, Burma Society of Civil Engineers

    Family

    U Tin U, Aye Aye Khin, Daw Cherry, Ye Myint, Peter

    Spouse

    Dr. Cherry 1
    • Dr. Khin Kyi Nyunt (Cherry) — passed away in November 2019
    • She did Nutrition Research at BMRI.

    Children

    Peter & his mom Dr. Cherry
    Family & Relatives
    Aye Aye. Dr. Cherry, Dr. Peter, U Tin U
    Family & Relatives 2
    Daw San San Aye, U Tin U, Dr. Ye Myint& Dr. Aye Sandar
    • Dr. Khin Tun (Peter, MRCP, Former Associate Dean of Oxford University, passed away in April 2020) & Daw Winmar;
    • Daw Aye Aye Khin (B.Com, CPA) & U Tin Tun (passed away in May 2020)
    • Dr. Ye Myint (Fellowship training in Intensive Care and Anesthesia, Took care of his father’s health in the final days) & Daw San San Aye
    YM 1
    YM 2
    YM 3

    Grandchildren

    • Min Ko & Prudence
    • Ye Aung
    • Dr. Aye Sandar
    • Thin Thiri Tun
    • Dr. Khin Sandy Tun

    Great Grandchildren

    • Su Wai Tun
    • Hnin Wai Tun
    Peter, Winmar, Ye Aung, Min Ko

    Siblings

    U Tin U, Ruby, Father U Chan Sein, Betty
    Ba Than, Myo Tint, Myo Min, Thaung Lwin, Tin Htoon, Tin U
    U Tin Htoon, U Tin U, U Ba Than, U Thaung Lwin, Dr. Myo Tint
    Six Siblings
    • U Ba Than (Scholarship Winner in 1947, Gold Medalist for I.Sc in 1949, Alumnus of Imperial College, Retd. Prof. of Mech. Engg) — GBNF
    • Dr. Daw Win Hlaing (Ruby)
    • Daw Myint Thwe (Betty, B.Com, Spouse of Dr. F Ba Hli) — GBNF
    • Dr. Myo Tint (3rd in Burma in 1952, RUBC Captain) — GBNF
    • U Tin Htoon (A60, RUBC Captain, ARAE Champion, SEAP Silver Medalist in Yachting)
    • U Myo Min (1st in I.Com & B.Com, Chartered Acct, UCC Co-founder)
    • U Thaung Lwin (Scholarship Winner in 1960, First in EC66, RUBC Captain)
    • Daw Cho Cho Hlaing (CRO, German Diploma)

    Highlights

    • Matriculated from St. John’s Dio in 1946
    • Represented RUBC at the 1948 Independence Day Regatta at Kandawgyi with Pe Nyun, Pe Thein and Khin Maung Wint
    1948 Independence Day Regatta

    Rowing

    • Four brothers — Tin U, Myo Tint, Tin Htoon & Thaung Lwin — are RUBC Captain & Gold
    • Two other brothers — Ba Than and Myo Min — are RUBC Green
    Tin U & Thaung Lwin
    RUBC Captains
    • Photo shows Five RUBC Captains. Sein Htoon (Cox) is a cousin; he is 1960 ARAE Champion

    Most Senior Past Captain

    • Captain of Rangoon University Boat Club (1948 – 49)
    RUBC
    • As the Most Senior and Oldest Past Captain of RUBC, U Tin U was invited to open the RUBC Centennial Celebration in 2023
    RUBC Centennial

    Bridge

    • Played with friends (e.g Richard Po Ohn)
    • Played with Uncle and two cousins

    Golf

    • Past Captain, RGC
    • Played with senior (e.g U Yaw Hlaing) & junior (e.g U Soe Paing) partners until his early 80s

    Memories

    • Relaxing in the garden
    Tin U
    • Visit
    With Than Htut

    Interviews

    • For RGC (Rangoon Golf Club)
    • For HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education)
    • For his grandson Min Ko

    Kidnap Survivor

    • See account by his son Dr. Khin Tun (Peter)

    Yahan Khan

    Yahan Khan

    Garawa

    • SPZP-2012
    SPZP-2012
    • PWD Architect 2 Group
    PWD 1
    PWD 2
    PWD 3

    Birthday Presents

    • Photo Album for 90th birthday by Tin Htoon & Htaik San
    • Photo Cards for several birthdays by Tin Htoon & family
    Birthday Card from U Tin Htoon & family

    U Ba Than

    With 90th Birthday Present (Photo Album)
    Young U Ba Than
    At Saya Pu Zaw Pwe with Sayagyi U Ba Toke
    Double Dana : Donated Garawa money to selected Charities
    Partial List of Donations
    In Singapore for medical check up
    With former students, who came to pay respect
    At Winner Inn

    Young & Old

    U Tin U & U Ba Than
  • Paing Family

    by Hla Min

    Update : May 2026

    U Paing & Siblings

    ဦးပိုင် ညီအကိုမောင်နှမများ

    U Paing & Siblings
    • Daw Ma Ma Tin ဒေါ်မမတင်
    • U Saing ဦးဆိုင်
    • U Hlaing ဦးလှိုင်
    • U Paing ဦးပိုင်
    • Daw Ma Ma Lay ဒေါ်မမလေး
    • U Chan Maung Kun ဦးချမ်းမောင်ကွမ်း
    • Bogyi Hla Maung ဗိုလ်ကြီးလှမောင်
    • U Sein Yoe ဦးစိန်ရိုး
    • U Yan Way ဦးရန်ဝေး

    Family

    Father : ICS U Paing

    Mother : Daw Oo Yin (daughter of Sir Po Tha & Lady Tha)

    Sons : Myo Paing, Soe Paing, Win Paing, Kyaw Paing

    Dr. Myo Paing (SPHS54)

    • Medical doctor & researcher (at BMRI)
    • Early assignment was Malaria Campaign
    • Champion golfer.

    U Soe Paing (SPHS56)

    U Soe Paing
    • In the Matric exam of 1956, he stood 13th in Burma and won a Collegiate Scholarship.
    • In 1958, he received two Gold medals : one for Highest Total Marks for I.Sc (Combined) & another for Joint Highest Marks in Maths for I.Sc (Combined).
    • While attending Engineering classes at RU, he received State Scholarship to study Electrical Engineering at Stanford University in the USA.
    • Received BS and MS in EE (Electrical Engineering) from Stanford University.
    • Upon his return, he joined the EE Department at RIT as Assistant Lecturer. He helped Sayagyi Dr. Chit Swe with the UCC project.
    • Transferred to UCC as Manager of Systems Division.
    • After reorganization, he also managed the Operations Division.
    • Received M.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Southampton, UK.
    • Taught CS courses at UCC. He co-authored Programming Texts, Lecture Guides and Manuals with U Aung Zaw and me.
    • Worked for UN projects in several countries.
    • Wrote “Computer Ah Sa UCC Ga” and his experiences as a States Scholar and UN Advisor. They can be read from SCRIB-D
    • After retirement, Saya spent time playing golf & practicing vipassana meditation.
    • During his UCC days, he served as a Golf Correspondent. I helped him type about the competition at RGC (Rangoon Golf Club) and BGC (Burma Golf Club) and submit to the English newspapers.
    • Visited RUCL. Compiled material for HMEE Project & prepared a Draft. Translated Section 1 of the HMEE book and summarized Section 2.
    • Gave an interview to MASTAA

    U Win Paing (SPHS64)

    U Wara 1
    U Wara 2
    U Wara 3
    • Won Golf Championships with his younger brother U Kyaw Paing.
    • After finishing the finals for ChE (Chemical Engineering) exam in 1970, he became a monk.
    • Served as Taik Oke for about four decades before becoming Chief Resident Monk of Kaba Aye Sunlun Gu Kyaung Sayadaw.
    • Known as Sayadaw U Wara.
    • He is now GBNF.

    U Kyaw Paing (SPHS67)

    • Represented Burma in the Putra Cup.
    • Lawyer and entrepreneur.

    U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76) wrote :

    For number of years, I was the carrier-cum-postman to bring Saya U Soe Paing’s typed golf news to the WPD, Working Peoples’ Daily at Theingbyu Street! Just one of the chores I had in those days.

    I remember jokingly asked Sayadaw U Wara how he felt seeing the (18th??) hole over the fence from the Sunlun Kyaung’s “Thein”. The new golf course was built for VIPs inside Kabaaye, and that particular hole was seen from the “Thein” less than 40-50 yards, of course over the fence.

    Updates

    • Nyi Lynn Seck created a family tree for Sir Po Tha

    Posts

    • Medical Research
    • Priests & Sayadaws
    • SPHS
    • UCC Founders
  • Tekkatho

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    Matriculation

    • Less than 10% passed the Matric exam in the early days.
    • A few (e.g U Ba Khin who stood First in Burma) chose to work instead of attending RU.
    • It was an honor to prefix one’s name with Tekkatho တက္ကသိုလ် or University.
    • Khin Nyo wrote: Absolutely right. I think in 1957 only 2% Passed and the total is 20000.
      Even dancer AmarSein was conferred with the title Thekkatho Amar Sein by the Rector Dr Tha Hla.

    Tekaktho Moe War (U Moe Aung)

    U Moe Aung

    Student Days

    • Matriculated from St. John’s Dio.
    • EC, RU Kalaung Ah Thin
    RU Association
    • Editor, RUESU Annual Magazine for 1960 – 61
    RUESU Magazine

    RIT Days

    • Electrical Engineering Saya at RIT
    EE Sayas
    U Moe Aung & U Sein Maung
    • Chief Editor, RIT Annual Magazine
    • Editor, Hlyat Sit Sar Saung
    • Co-leader, Swel Daw Yeik Troupe (Ah Nyeint, Htee Yein, Ta Bin Daing Ah Ka) at RU Golden Jubilee in 1970

    Singapore Days

    • Worked in Singapore
    • Chair, SPZP-2002 & SPZP-2010 (in Singapore)
    • Editor / Publisher, Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007 & SPZP-2010
    • Organizer, Alumni Activities (e.g Thingyan)

    Post Retirement

    • Moved back to Myanmar
    • Taught refresher courses (e.g. Electrical Saftey) at Electrical Inspectorate
    • Kept mind alert by writing poems & articles in weekly publications
    • Patron, SDYF; Composed & performed SDY Song
    • Entertainment for SPZP-2012 & SPZP-2016

    Publications

    • Distinguished Writer, Poet, Editor & Publisher
    • Editor, RUESU Annual Magazine
    • Chief Editor, RIT Annual Magazine for more than a decade
    • Chief Editor, Hlyat Sit Sar Saung
    • Chief Editor, Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007 & SPZP-2010 in Singapore
    • Chief Editor, Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for Shwe YaDu in 2014 & SPZP-2016 in Yangon
    • Kabyars — solo; with RIT poets; with former EC members of RU Kalaung Ah Thinn
    Book 1
    Book 2
    Book 3
    Book 4
    • Books — Collection of articles; Collection of poem
  • Soe Paing

    by Hla Min

    Update : May 2026

    Paing Brothers

    Family

    • Parents : ICS U Paing & Daw Oo Yin
    • Siblings : Dr. Myo Paing, U Win Paing (Sayadaw U Wara, GBNF), U Kyaw Paing
    • Spouse : Daw Saw Yu Tint (T69)
    • Children : Two sons & One daughter
    • Grandchildren : 3

    Education & Work

    • Mmatriculated from St. Paul’s High School in 1956. He stood 13th in Burma and won Collegiate Scholarship.
    • At the Convocation of 1958, he won two Gold Medals — one for Highest Total Marks in I.Sc.(A) and I.Sc.(B); and another for Joint Highest Marks in Maths for I.Sc.(A) and I.Sc.(B).
    • Received a States Scholarship to study BSEE and MSEE at Stanford University.
    • Joined the RIT Electrical Engineering Department as Assistant Lecturer.
    • Helped Sayagyi Dr. Chit Swe found Universities’ Computer Center.
    • Transferred to UCC as Manager for Systems Division. He later also managed Operations Division.
    • Received M.Sc.(Computer Science) from Southampton University in UK.
    • Worked for UNDP Projects in several countries.

    Mentor

    • My mentor at RIT & UCC.
    • Allowed U Aung Zaw & me to co-author Texts, User Guides and Manuals for use at UCC.

    HMEE

    • Early supporter of the HMEE project.
    • Prepared a draft for the HMEE book and handed it to Saya U Aung Hla Tun & team.
    • He and U Ohn Khine (M70) translated Section 1 of the HMEE Book and summarized Section 2.

    Posts

    Post from March 2011

    I went to the University Central Library and managed to get scanned photos from the Engg Student Annual Magazines 51-52, 52-53, 56-57 and 60-61. Photos include photos of Sayas, students of that year. From these when can know about the Sayas at that year. We can also identify the students at that year.

    U Sein Hlaing (Prof EE) was a final year student in 1951-52 and became an A/L starting 1952-53. Saya U Tin Swe was a student in 1951-52 and 52-53. He was a member of the Eng Student Union and the victorious Prome Hall football team. Ex-Burma Selected Footballer U Chan Tha (Chief Engineer, Roads, Rangoon Municipal) was the Captain. U Khin Si (husband of RIT Finance Officer Daw Yin Yin Htway and part time lecturer Textile) and U Tin Si (U Khin Si’s brother and tennis doubles partnership that won RU as well as national championships) were members of the Prome hall team.

    The 1956-57 magazine contains photos when the new Leik Khone Engineering Buildings were inaugurated in 1956 Nov by the Prime Minister at that time U Ba Swe.

    In the 1952-53 magazine I found out that Mr. Robert Hole (ex-EE, Highways, PWD, PWC, CC; uncle of Percy Maung Maung and uncle Bobby to me) was the English editor. I called Uncle Bobby and requested him to write something about his engineering student days, his teachers and fellow students. He agreed and asked for about three weeks time.

    I need to go back and to the UCL to get more info from the RIT handbook 1966-67 and photos from the Hlyat Sit Sar Saung.

    U Ba Than has donated some of his Engineering College photos to the MES library and I need to go there to check up on the photos.

    Post from May 2000

    The mention of RIT, BIT, and BOC college in the first newsletter bring back memories of our good old days in Rangoon University. Although we did not graduate from Rangoon University, we had a really great two and a half years there before we went for studies aroad under government scholarship.

    Our first year 1956-1957 was in Yankin College. Yankin was a campus of RU for first year science students. It is now Yankin State High School No. XX? Hteedan was for the 1st year arts students. Our second year I.Sc. was at the RU campus itself which we refer to as Main. The Arts students have classes at Judson. That time the new Social Science Building (now Institute of Economics) was completed. We had our second year ISc exams in that new building.

    Then it is our 1st year B.Sc. Engineering course at the new Faculty of Engineering in Prome Road (now Institute of Medicine I). We attended for six months till December 1958. That campus was designed and built especially for the Faculty of Engineering. Civil, Electrical, Mechanical Departments were there but Chemical, Textile, etc. were in the old BOC building at the back.

    The 1st year classes were from 7 to 9 a.m. for Mathematics. We then have a one hour break and we start the engineering courses at 10 a.m. We usually have a snack during the break at a small cafe between Tagaung and Prome Halls. Those halls were only for engineering students then. The mathematics (Pure & Applied) lecturers were from India hired under contract. We had three engineering courses: Building Materials taught by Mr. Tan Ba Hli (the Dean of Engineering himself). Heat Engines taught by U Aung Khin. Principles of Electrical Engineering taught by U Kyaw Tun. We had EE lab with Ko Htin Paw and Ko Ba Nyunt as lab instructors. We also had engineering drawing with Ko San Hla Aung and Allen Htay (for Chem, Tex, etc.) as instructors.

    Those were the days when Rangoon University was one of the best universities in SE Asia and Asia. It also had a really nice campus.

    RIT Saya Soccer Team

    Reading about communications from Richard Khoo (Dr. Aung Soe, C61) and seeing the list of Sayas in the 1966-67 Handbook brings back memories of our soccer team.

    As I remember it was from 1964 to 1968 or 1969. We played against (i) the senior students of different majors Civil, Mechanical, Electrical etc. (ii) the sayas at GTI and Natmauk Technical Institute (iii) the Burma Air Force officers.

    We also played in the annual tournament for RIT Staff. The staff teams are the Sayas, Workshop staff, Lab staff, Hostel staff and the youth team from the RIT compound.

    As I remember (other Sayas & graduates may correct me) these were the people in the team.

    Goalkeepers :

    • Richard Khoo (Civil)
    • Maurice Kyaw Zaw (Chemistry),
    • Sein Myint/Ah Sein (Petroleum)

    Defenders :

    • Ko Maung Maung Than (Textile)
    • Ko Aung Soe (Math)
    • Ko Aung Hla Tun (Met)
    • Ko Sann Tint (Elect)
    • Christopher Maung (Civil)
    • U Tin Swe (Elect)
    • Ko Tin Win (Mech)

    Midfielders :

    • Ko Tin Maung Nyunt (Agri)
    • Desmond Rogers (English)
    • Ko Khine Oo (Elect)
    • Ko Maung Maung Win (Mech)
    • Ko Tin Hlaing II (Mech)

    Forwards :

    • Ko Pike Htwe (Chemistry)
    • Ko Aung (Math)
    • Ko Tin Hlaing I (Agri)
    • Ko Soe Min (Elect)
    • Ko Kyin Soe (Auto)
    • myself (Elect)

    We rarely practiced but we enjoyed playing the games. We split games with the GTI sayas & the Air Force officers. We beat the Natmauk sayas and we won more than we lost in the RIT staff tournament. But I am sure we lost more than we won against the final year students. Would appreciate comments on this; especially on the names I missed in the team.

    Updates

    • Wrote articles about his experiences as a State Scholar, Saya, UCC Co-founder & UN Advisor. They can be read from SCRIB-D.
    • Gave an interview to MASTAA.
    • Had recovered after medical treatment.

    Posts

    • Computer Pioneers in Burma
    • EE Sayas
    • HMEE
    • Memories of UCC
    • Paing Family
  • Mechanical Engineering

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    ဆရာ (တချို့)

    Late 1980s

    • Sayagyi U Ba Than & Staff
    • U Maung Maung Than (Rector)
    • U Kyin Soe later became Professor & Rector
    • Some sayas were on Deputation (e.g studying in Australia)
    • Two sayamas
    • Some are now GBNF
    Mech Sayas in late 1980s

    U Aung Khin ဦးအောင်ခင် — Mech Engg ပါမောက္ခ ငြိမ်း

    First native Professor

    Moved to Canada

    အကြံပေး၊ Advisor, RIT Alumni International

    U Aung Khin

    U Ba Than ဦးဘသန်း (GBNF) — Mech Engg ပါမောက္ခ ငြိမ်း

    Second native Professor

    အကြံပေး၊ Advisor, Engineering Library

    အကြံပေး၊ Early supporter & host of HMEE project

    U Ba Than

    U San Tun ဦးစံထွန်း — Auto Engg ဌာနမှူး ငြိမ်း

    President, BEA

    U San Tun

    U Tin Hlaing ဦးတင်လှိုင် (ကွယ်လွန်) — Agri Engg ဌာနမှူး ငြိမ်း

    President, All Universities’ Hockey

    U Tin Hlaing

    U Tin Htut ဦးတင်ထွဋ် — ကထိက ငြိမ်း

    Captain & Gold, RUBC

    Founder & President, BASES

    Donor, YTU Library project

    U Tin Htut

    U Tun Shwe ဦးထွန်းရွှေ

    Patron, SDYF

    U Tun Shwe

    U Tin Maung Nyunt ဦးတင်မောင်ညွန့် — Agri ဆရာ ငြိမ်း

    President, RIIT သိုင်း

    Donor, YTU Library project

    U Tin Maung Nyunt

    U Maung Maung Win ဦးမောင်မောင်ဝင်း — ကထိကငြိမ်း

    RIT Automobile Club

    U Maung Maung Win

    Dr. Tin Win Dr တင်ဝင်း — ကထိကငြိမ်း

    President, BASES

    Organizer, 2015 Alumni Reunion in LA

    Dr. Tin Win

    Mao Toon Siong

    Champion, Table Tennis

    National Coach, Table Tennis

    Mao Toon Siong

    U Kyi ဦးကြည်

    Perfect score in 4 subjects in Final Year

    Head, Aeronautical Engg

    U Kyi

    S Arya (GBNF)

    Had cute accent

    See post by Dr. Myint Thein (Ba Thein, Atlanta)

    S Arya

    U Phone Myint ဦးဖုန်းမြင့်

    Workshop Superintendent

    After retirement, visited daughters in Jamaica, Malaysia & USA

    U Phone Myint

    Dr. Tin Hlaing

    Moved to Singapore

    Organizer, SPZP-2002

    Dr. Tin Hlaing

    U Soe Lwin ဦးစိုးလွင် (ကွယ်လွန်)

    U Soe Lwin

    U Win ဦးဝင်း

    U Win

    S ကျော်အေး (ကွယ်လွန်)

    S Kyaw Aye

    U Lay Aung ဦးလေးအောင်

    U Lay Aung

    U Kyaw Myint ဦးကျော်မြင့်

    U Kyaw Myint

    U Kyaw Sein ဦးကျော်စိန် (ကွယ်လွန်)

    Archived Pon Tu’s of Sayas (by Bagyee Myat Myo Myint)

    Dr. Kyaw Sein Dr ကျော်စိန်

    RIT Weightlifting and Body Building

    Retired Professor from YIT & Malaysian University

    U Myo Win ဦးမျိုးဝင်း (ကွယ်လွန်)

    Rowing

    RIT Automobile Club

    Taught at Wagga Wagga University, Australia

    U Myo Win

    U Hla Myint ဦးလှမြင့်

    ရေကူး၊ ဝါတာပိုလို

    Chaired RIT Alumni Gathering in Sydney, Australia in 2006

    U Hla Myint

    Dr. Nyo Win

    Organizer, SPZP-2000
    Founding Member, RIT Alumni International
    Founding Member, NorCal RITAA

    Worked for Tech Companies in USA & Taiwan

    U Nyo Win (2nd)

    U Lin ဦးလင်း

    Rowing

    RIT Buddhist Association

    SPZPs in Yangon

    U Lin

    GBNF

    • U Ba Than
    • Dr. Chan Nyein
    • U Han Tun
    • U Khin Maung
    • U Kyaw Sein
    • U Myo Win
    • S Arya
    • S Kyaw Aye
    • U Soe Lwin
    • U Thein Tun Aung
    • U Tin Hlaing
    • U Tin Maung Oo

    Updates

    • Need help to organize / integrate the posts.
    • Several are GBNF. See partial list in the post.
    • U Aung Khin is in Canada. He stays fit by playing Tennis & Golf.
    • U San Tin, Tin Htut, Dr. Tin Win, Mao Toon Siong, U Tin Maung Nyunt, U Kyaw Myint & Dr. Nyo Win are in USA.
    • U Maung Maung Win & U Hla Myint are in Australia.
    • U San Tun, Dr. Kyaw Sein & U Lin had medical treatment.

    Posts

    • U Aung Khin
    • U Ba Than
    • From BIT to YTU
    • HMEE
    • Mech Sayas
  • RIT Sayas

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2026

    Singapore (SPZP-2007)

    SPZP-2007

    Attendees include

    • U Maung Maung Win (M61, Australia)
    • Dr. Tin Win (M62, USA)
    • U Aung Myint (M69, Singapore)
    • U Tin Htut (M60, USA)

    Sayas in 2009

    69ers celebrated 40th Anniversary of graduation with Reunion and Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe.

    The sayas include

    2009
    • U Thein Lwin (E, GBNF)
    • Dr. Win Thein (M)
    • U Tun Shwe (M)
    • U Thit (Met, GBNF)
    • U Myo Myint Sein (A)
    • U Khin Aung Kyi (Ch, GBNF)
    • Dr. Ba Lwin (E)
    • Dr. Ba Myint (E)
    • U Myo Kyi (E)
    • Dr. Pe Win (Met)
    • U Han Tun (M, GBNF)
    • Daw Tin Tin Myint (Ch)
    • U S. Kyaw Aye (M, GBNF)
    • U Khine Oo (E)
    • U C. Maung (C)
    • U Sein Maung (E)
    • U Aung Hla Tun (Met, GBNF)
    • U Tin Shwe (E, GBNF)
    • Dr. Thaung Myint (Math)
    • U Soe Paing (E)
    • U Moe Aung (E)
    • U S. Arya (M, GBNF)
    • Dr. Kyaw Win (Pet)
    • U Soe Lwin (M, GBNF)
    • U Tin Maung (C)
    • U Win (M)
    • U Phone Myint (M)
    • U Ngwe Tun (C, GBNF)

    New Jersey (2018)

    Ivan Lee (M69) & team hosted the RIT-UCC Gathering in New Jersey in 2018.

    The sayas include

    2018
    • U Aung Myint (M)
    • U Htun Aung Kyaw (Ch)
    • U Soe Paing (E)
    • Dr. Aung Gyi (C, Rector)
    • Dr. San Hla Aung (C)
    • Dr. Tin Win (M)
    • Dr. Ohn Myint (C)

    U Ba Toke (GBNF)

    Saya is a Phwa Bet Taw of Rangoon University & the First RU Students’ Strike in December 1920.

    Memories

    • On behalf of the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65, U Khin Maung Myint (ChE71) offered Garawa money to Sayagyi.
    U Ba Toke 1
    • Pansy Thin provided transportation for Saya U Ba Than, Saya U Tin Htut and me
    U Ba Toke 2
    • Birthday celebration with Six (of Eight) Children. Sayagadaw, son & daughter are GBNF.
    U Ba Toke 3

    Allen Htay (C58, GBNF)

    Saya served as President of the RIT Alumni International, which hosted SPZP-2000.

    1966 Thingyan

    Saya Allen

    Memories

    Saya Allen 2
    Saya Allen 3
    Saya Allen 4
    Saya Allen 5

    U Tin Shwe (EP66, GBNF)

    • Taught at RIT and Assumption University
    • After retirement, Saya became a monk.
    • Swel Daw Yeik Foundation provided some financial assistance during his hospitalization.
    • Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War) wrote “To the Shwe Duo” in memory of Saya U Tin Shwe and Saya U Hla Shwe (T69).
    U Tin Shwe 1
    U Tin Shwe 2
    U Tin Shwe 3

    U Tin Lin (ChE72)

    • Taught at RIT and at a Polytechnic in Singapore.
    • Organizer, SPZPs in Singapore
    • Annotated Pon Tu’s of Sayas (by Bagyee Myat Myo Myint & archived by Saya U Kyaw Sein)
    • Donated K2 Lakhs to the YTU Library Modernization Project.
    U Tin Lin 1
    U Tin Lin 2

    U Tin Htut (M60)

    • Captain & Gold of RUBC
    • Founder & Past President of BASES
    • Financial Controller, 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles
    • Donated K100 Lakhs for the YTU Library Modernization Project
    • Donated K10 Lakhs to Swel Daw Yeik Foundation
    • Donated to the All-Mechanical Gathering

    Memories

    U Tin Htut 1
    U Tin Htut 2
    U Tin Htut 3
    U Tin Htut 4
    U Tin Htut 5

    U Thet Lwin

    • Taught Burmese at the Institute of Economics
    • Registrar of RIT
    • Retired as Director of DHE
    • Pen name : “Tekkatho Maung Ngwe Hlinne”.
    • Composed “Mya Kyun Nyo Nyo Kun Yeik Kho”

    Memories

    U Thet Lwin 1
    U Thet Lwin 2
    U Thet Lwin 3

    Dr. San Hla Aung (C58)

    • Taught at RIT and the University of New Orleans.
    • Seen with former students : Saya U Nyi Hla Nge (C69) and U Saw Lin (C71, GBNF).
    Dr. San Hla Aung

    S Kyaw Aye (M63, GBNF)

    Elder brother of my classmate Abdul Raof (EP69).

    S Kyaw Aye

    U Thein Lwin (EE, GBNF)

    • President, RIT Badminton
    • Taught at RIT EE and Singapore Polytechnic

    Memories

    • With oldies in Singapore
    U Thein Lwin 1
    U Thein Lwin 2

    U Soe Paing (EE)

    • Taught at RIT EE and UCC
    • Co-founder, UCC
    • Retiree, UN

    Memories

    U Soe Paing 1
    U Soe Paing 2
    U Soe Paing 3

    U Shwe Hlaing (Maths)

    • Taught Engineering Maths & Computer Programmer
    • Helped UCC Project
    U Shwe Hlaing

    U Ngwe Tun (C, GBNF)

    • Taught at RIT Civil
    • Owned bookshop
    U Ngwe Tun

    U Myat Htoo (C68)

    • Taught at RIT Civil
    • Retired from CalTrans
    • Founding member, RIT Alumni International
    • Co-emcee, SPZP-2000
    • Founding member & BOD Chair, NorCal RITAA

    Memories

    U Myat Htoo 1
    U Myat Htoo 2
    U Myat Htoo 3
    U Myat Htoo 4
    U Myat Htoo 5

    U Moe Aung (EE)

    • See posts : Tekkatho Moe War, EE Sayas, Swel Daw Yeik Magazine, Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung, Kabyars, Translation

    Memories

    U Moe Aung 1
    U Moe Aung 2
    U Moe Aung 3
    U Moe Aung 4
    U Moe Aung 5

    U Lin (M66)

    • Rowing
    • Buddhist Association
    • SPZP

    Memories

    U Lin 1
    U Lin 2
    U Lin 3

    U Kyaw Myint (M/Auto64)

    • UN projects in Beijing
    • Moved to California
    • Patron, TDS
    U Kyaw Myint

    U Ba Than (M)

    • Several posts : Mech Sayas, HMEE, Dana

    Memories

    U Ba Than 1
    U Ba Than 2
    U Ba Than 3

    U Ba Myint (EE)

    • Retired as Pro-Rector
    • Taught at RIT EE
    U Ba Myint

    U Aung Khin (M)

    • First native Mech Prof
    • Moved to Canada
    • Wrote articles for RIT Alumni Newsletter, SPZPs & HMEE

    Memories

    U Aung Khin 1
    U Aung Khin 2
    U Aung Khin 4

    Dr. Tin Win (M62)

    • See posts : Class of 62, BASES, Mech Engg, 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles

    Memories

    Dr. Tin Win 1
    Dr. Tin Win 2

    U Tun Shwe (M60)

    • Patron, RIT Alumni Association
    • Patron, SDYF
    • Provided Certificates & IDs from RU
    • Sagar Waing (Video to celebrate 60th Anniversary of RIT)
    U Tun Shwe 1
    U Tun Shwe

    Updates

    • Jara, Byadi and Marana have effected Sayas and Sayamas
    • U Ba Than hosted the first HMEE meeting. He donated photos to HMEE and MES. He invited former colleagues and students to his Birthday Soon Kyway. He passed away after his 94th birthday.
    • Need help to organize my website.

    Posts

    • Brief Bios
    • Engineering Departments
    • From BIT to YTU
    • HMEE
    • SPZP