Feb 13 : Children’s Day (Bogyoke Aung San’s birthday)
Feb 14 : Valentine’s Day
US Presidents’ Day
Occasionally : Lunar New Year
Occasionally : Full Moon Day of Tabodwe — Htamane Pwe & [Buddha’s] Exhortation Day
March
Mar 2 : Peasant’s Day was moved from Jan 1 in order to celebrate the Coup D’eat
Phone Maw Day
Burma’s Human Rights Day (celebrated by Berkeley)
Mar 27 : Resistance Day was renamed as Armed Forces Day
First Day of Spring : Persian New Year
April
Thingyan : Three or four days of Water Festival
Myanmar New Year
May
May 1 : May Day in some countries
May 5 : Cinco de Mayo
Mother’s Day in the US
June
Jun 6 : D Day
Jun 6 : Ah Loke Thamar Ah Yay Ah Khinn
Father’s Day in the US
July
Jul 4 : Independence Day in the US
Jul 7 : Students’ protest that was brutally crushed
Jul 8 : Demolition of the Rangoon University Student’s Union
Jul 19 : Arzani Nay
Apollo 11 landed in Tranquility Bay on the Moon in July 1969
My poem “Men on the Moon” was sent to NASA via USIS. A copy was published in the Guardian.
August
8-8-88 : start of a long struggle to restore Democracy in Myanmar
Several birthdays in my extended family
September
Crushing the hopes of Multi-party Democracy
Occasionally : End of Burmese Buddhist Lent
October
Occasionally : End of Burmese Buddhist Lent (Thadinkyut)
“Deepavali” or “Diwali” celebrations are also celebrated around October. It is known as the “Festival of Lights”.
“Halloween” occurs every year on October 31 with “Trick or
Treat” by the children and [optional] “Halloween Costume Party” by young and old adults.
November
Elections in the US (Local races & Resolutions every year, House of Representatives every two years, One third of Senators every two years, President every four years)
Nov 22 : JFK assassinated (Conspiracy Theory survives)
Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US
December
U Thant Ah Yay Ah Khinn : dark day in the history of Burma
Apollo 8 orbited the Moon in December 1968
Dec 25 : Christmas
Dec 31 : New Year’s Eve
Grapevine says that some holy days are preceded by some “fun events”.
Highest marks in Chemistry for HSF Only exam in 1962
11th in Burma for Matric exam in 1963
Chemical Engineering (Pulp & Paper Specialty) from Dresden University, Germany
Passed away in Wales, UK
Mg Mg Kyi
Kyaw Phone Myint / Victor Kyaw Phyo
(Early) Organizer, Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65
Spouse : Hta Cho (Wun)
Kyaw Wynn
Birthday
He offered birthday soon kyway to Uzin Okkantha (Victor, Aung Chaw) and treated his former classmates (some of whom have not seen each other for a long time). The attendees include :
Aye Ngwe (Edwin)
Kyaw Win (“Birthday Boy”)
Khin Maung Bo (Alan, EP69)
Hla Min (EC69)
Uzin Okkantha (Aung Chaw, Victor, C69)
Than Win (M69)
Aung Kyi (Arthur)
Tin Tun (M69)
Khin Maung Zaw (Frank Gale, IM1 70, UK)
SPHS Novice Crew at RUBC
Maung Maung Kyi (Bow, GBNF)
Hla Min (No. 2)
Kyaw Win (No. 3, EE)
Willie Soe Mg (Stroke, GBNF)
Myint Thein (Cox, SPHS 62, B.Com 66, GBNF)
We were all awarded Full Green.
When the schools were closed following the first Anniversary of 7th July, Kyaw Win and Maung Maung Kyi applied for scholarships to study in Germany.
Maung Maung Kyi received Dip Ing in ChE. He worked at Sittaung Paper Mill and PPIC before moving to Wales, UK.
Kyaw Win had a higher calling. He and his friends protested in front of the Burmese Embassy. The higher authorities were alarmed at their movement and recalled back to Burma. Fortunately, he was able to complete his EE in Rangoon.
I am following the noble tradition of honoring pioneers and outstanding people. I am trying my best to present their achievements and contributions. I an privileged to have known many seniors, contemporaries and juniors.
Who’s Who, Twentieth Century Impressions of Burma, Five Minute Biographies တွေ ကို နည်းယူပြီး ကျွန်တော် က Old Burma တုန်းက ထူးချွန်သူ တွေ ကို မှတ်တမ်းတင် ဂုဏ်ပြု နေတဲ့ ရှေ့မှီ နောက်မှီ (ဘေးမှီ) သူတယောက်ပါ။
I volunteered as a Docent at the Computer History Museum (CHM) for two years. CHM’s programs include Hardware & Software Artifacts, Exhibits, Oral History, Lectures, Panels and Award Ceremonies.
The Old Burma Group has posts about History, Notable (Famous as well as Notorious) people. I appreciate the invaluable posts as a reader and contributor.
Old Burma Group ဟာလည်း သမိုင်း နဲ့ ထူးချွန် / ဆိုးသွမ်း (Famous as well as Notorious) ကို မှတ်တမ်း တင် နေ တဲ့ အဖွဲ့ မို့ Contributor တယောက် အနေ နဲ့ ဝမ်းသာ ကြည်နူး မိပါတယ်။
I request the Group Administrator and Moderators to approve my posts.
ကျွန်တော် ရဲ့ posts တွေကို တင်ပြခွင့်ပြုပါ Admin နဲ့ Moderator များ ခင်ဗျာ။
ကျွန်တော် က I am
Founder & Chief Editor of RIT Alumni Newsletter
Owner & Admin of RIT Updates FB Group
Member of HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education) : အဖွဲ့ဝင်၊
ကံ့ကော်မြေ (တက္ကသိုလ်ရာပြည့်) Former Moderator of RU Centennial Group : Moderator ငြိမ်း၊
U Myo Myint (Retired Deputy General Manager of Burma Railways) is an accomplished Painter, Cover Designer and Cartoonist. He drew Pon Tu’s of selected RIT Sayas, Sayamas, and colleagues. I am honored to receive his present.
ပန်းချီ မြတ်မျိုးမြင့် ရဲ့ လက်ဆောင် မွန် Pon Tu gift from Bagyee Myat Myo Myint / U Myo Myint (M)
Pon Tu
1964 – 65 Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT)
I was admitted to 2nd BE (Bachelor of Engineering) in November 1964.
The photo was taken at the Gyogone campus.
2nd BE student
1964 – 65 ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဒုတိယနှစ် သင်တန်းသား 2nd BE Student at Rangoon Institute of Technology
1965 Summer Inlay Luyechun Camp
I was selected as Luyechun (Outstanding Student).
The photo was taken at the Welcome Ceremony by the Head of Shan States.
LYC
1965 နွေရာသီ အင်းလေး ခေါင်တိုင် လူရည်ချွန် စခန်း တက္ကသိုလ် နဲ့ အထက်တန်း လူရည်ချွန်များ Inlay Khaung Daing Luyechun Camp in the Summer of 1965
1969 December Poem for 5th SEAP Games
Burma hosted the 2nd SEAP Games in 1961, and the 5th SEAP Games in 1969.
The photo shows a page from the Forward Magazine. Maung Thaw Ka (Bohmu Ba Thaw, GBNF) was Chief Editor of the magazine.
Forward
Forward မဂ္ဂဇင်း — ဒီဇင်ဘာ 1969 ပဥ္စမ အကြိမ် အရှေ့တောင်အာရှ ကျွန်းဆွယ်ပွဲ အတွက် ကဗျာ စပ်ဆို ခဲ့ Poem about the 5th SEAP Games
Mid 1970s Universities’ Computer Center (UCC), Rangoon
The photo was taken with the Teachers and Students of CPC (Computer Programming Course).
Dr. Tin Maung (GBNF) succeeded Dr. Chit Swe (UCC Founder, GBNF) as Director of UCC.
UCC
တက္ကသိုလ်များ ကွန်ပျူတာ ဌာန က ပို့ချတဲ့ သင်တန်း တခု Computer Course at Universities’ Computer Center (UCC), Thamaing College Campus
1999 Aprilto 2025 Chief Editor of RIT Alumni International Newsletter
2005++ Paying Homage to Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa
U Silananda
ဆရာတော် ဦးသီလာနန္ဒာဘိဝံသ (ပါချုပ်ဆရာတော်) အထိမ်းအမှတ် မော်ကွန်းစာစောင်အတွက် အဖွဲ့ဝင် & စာတည်း Contributing Editor for the Book published in memory of Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa
2010 December Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in Singapore
SDY Sar Saung
2010 စင်ကာပူ မှာ ကျင်းပတဲ့ စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ အထိမ်း အမှတ် စွယ်တော်ရိပ်စာစောင် Wrote an article “A Sad and Short Clip: EE Sayas” for the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for SPZP-2010 in Singapore
HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Project) HMEE Book published in 2012
HMEE
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အင်ဂျင်နီယာ ပညာရေး သမိုင်း ပြုစု တဲ့ အဖွဲ့ Member of HMEE (History of Myanmar Engineering Education) U Ohn Khine (M70) and I compiled the CD Supplement for the HMEE Book published in 2012 Copies of the Book were donated to Libraries
CD
2012 နှစ် မှာ ထုတ်ဝေခဲ့တဲ့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အင်ဂျင်နီယာပညာရေး သမိုင်း စာအုပ် ရဲ့ နောက်ဆက်တွဲ စီဒီ CD Supplement for the HMEE Book Photos and articles (in English) to supplement the articles (in Burmese) in the HMEE Book
ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ရွှေရတု အထိမ်းအမှတ်စွယ်တော်ရိပ် မဂ္ဂဇင်း (2014) Wrote an article “Memories of a 69er” for the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for Shwe YaDu 2014
2016 September Alumni Appreciation Award
Award
2019 December RUBC 96th Anniversary Regatta
Regatta
RUBC 96th Anniversary & Regatta (2019) U Tin Myint (GBNF), U Sein Htoon, U Khin Maung Latt, U Hla Min
2019 December Golden Jubilee of Graduation of RIT 69ers
GJ
2019 — 1969 နှစ် ဘွဲ့ရ အင်ဂျင်နီယာများ ရဲ့ ရွှေရတု မနက်ပိုင်း — ကြို့ကုန်း မှာ ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ 2019 — Golden Jubilee of Graduation for RIT 69ers Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe at Gyogone Campus
Matriculated from St. Paul’s High School in 1963. Stood 11th in the whole of Burma and won Collegiate Scholarship.
Joined Rangoon Universities’ Boat Club. Our Paulian crew — Mg Mg Kyi, Hla Min, Kyaw Win, Willie Soe Mg and Myint Thein (cox) — was Senior Novices Runners-up in the Monsoon Regatta. All became RUBC Full Green.
Rangoon University was closed citing security concerns after the protests of the 1st Anniversary of 7th July. Mg Mg Kyi and Kyaw Win applied for Government Scholarship to study Engineering at Dresden University.
Mg Mg Kyi received the Masters (equivalent) in Chemical Engineering with specialization in Pulp and Paper.
He worked for PPIC (notably Sittang and Yay Ni Paper Mills).
He found his love Khin May Than (Che72). They raised two sons — Rimon Than & Khemar Than.
The family moved to Wales, UK.
Dr. Rimon Than
Rimon
Elder son of U Maung Maung Kyi and Daw Khin May Than.
Medical Doctor / Specialist
Experienced Mountain Climber
Squadron Leader in Royal Aut Force
Accomplished “Rescue Team Leader”.
Sadly, he passed away on February 15, 2013 during a mountaineering training in Scotland due to an avalanche.
Mg Mg Kyi and Khin May Than were visiting Yangon at the time. They had to fly back to Wales to attend the funeral service with military honors.
Ogmore by the sea
Mg Mg Kyi and Khin May Than were deeply hurt by the untimely loss of their elder son.
Their younger son (Dr. Khemar Than) moved back from Japan to be close to his parents.
MMK and KMT gave their house to Khemar, and moved to Ogmore-by-the-sea.
MMK invited me to see his new home.
Visit to Wales
In 2017, we visited UK.
My cousin nephew Dr. Khin Tun (Peter) drove us to Wales to visit Mg Mg Kyi and Khin May Than at their new home Ogmore-by-the-sea.
See the posts about the mini-gathering.
Maung Maung Kyi
Updates
Dr. “Peter” Khin Tun (MRCP, Former Associate Dean of OxfordUniversity) was a victim of Covid-19 and the lax Guidelines of NIH. He passed away on April 13, 2020. The news and TV coverage about the sad story led to reevaluation of procedures and support for NIH doctors and staff combating Covid.
Maung Maung Kyi passed away peacefully in November 2024. His younger sisters — Dr. Kyi Kyi Hla, Daw Khin Thitsar and Dr. Khin Sabai — performed Soon Kwyay Dana for the 1st Anniversary of Maung Maung Kyi’s demise.
Soon Kyway
Memories
Khin Sabai, Khin May Than & Mg Mg Kyi Top Matriculates from SPHS 1963SPHS Std VIII (A) Mg Mg Kyi 1 Mg Mg Kyi 2
In December 1920, there were three significant events.
On December 1, 1920, Rangoon University was established with Rangoon College and Judson College as the constituent colleges. The colleges are also known by other names (e.g. Government College, Baptist College)
On December 5, 1920, the First RU Students’ Strike took place. They protested the 1920 Rangoon University Act as too narrow and restrictive.
On December 26, 1920, Saya U Ba Toke was born as a Phwa Bet Taw of the above two.
Rangoon University(RU)
Initially had three Faculties and eight departments (including Law)
Initially had six professors
RU gradually extended its offerings (beyond Science and Arts)
The opening of engineering classes was planned around 1923 and executed in 1924.
In 1927, the first batch of engineering students (who had Bachelors degree) graduated with the “accelerated courses” option.
In 1928, the second batch of engineering students (who joined after finishing the I.Sc.) graduated.
RU was closed from 1942 to 45. RU Silver Jubilee was celebrated much later (and without high key).
RU celebrated the Golden Jubilee (GJ) in 1970. Dr. Aung Gyi (Professor of Civil Engineering) and U Thet Lwin (Burmese saya at the Institute of Economics) were some of the GJ organizers. The RIT Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins took part in the GJ Entertainment Program as “Swel Daw Yeik Troupe“. The term “Swel Daw Yeik” became synonymous with RIT [its predecessors and its successors]. Swel Daw Yeik Ah Nyeint (စွယ်တော်ရိပ်အငြိမ့် with Minthamees မင်းသမီး and Lu Shwin Daws လူရွှင်တော်), HteeYein (ထီးယိမ်း RIT Belles with colorful Parasols) and Da Bin Daing Ah Ka (တပင်တိုင်အက) were hits at the GJ celebration. I was a volunteer member of the “Zay Nay Yar Cha Hta Yay” subcommittee headed by Saya U Hla Tun Aung (Geography). Those who applied for stalls and/or stage included Actor Maung Maung Tar (promoting his make up) and the then amateur band “Playboys” requesting a high stage (for security concerns).
RU celebrated the Diamond Jubilee in 1995.
RU celebrated the “Yar Pyie Ah Kyo” in December 2019. The opening song was “Mya Kyun Nyo” composed by Maung Ngwe Hlinne (Saya U Thet Lwin).
RU Centennial Celebrations were planned for November and December of 2020. Due to the pandemic, many events were held virtually. Kyemon and Myanar Ah Lin newspapers featured articles about RU. The TV stations featured interviews, songs …
First RU Students’ Strike
Eleven “senior” students led the Boycott of the Rangoon University Act of 1920.
They were unhappy with the restrictions of the RU Act and decided to hold a boycott (strike) on December 7, 1920.
Due to a news leak, the protests were moved to December 5, 1920.
The strike resulted in the establishment of Amyotha Kyaung (National Schools) and Amyotha Kaw Leik (National College). The event is celebrated as Ah Myo Tha Aung Pwe Nay (National Day). The Burmese date (10th Waning day of Tazaungmon) is used for the Celebration.
Arzani U Razak was an early graduate of the National College. He served as Principal of a National School in Mandalay. He became Minister of Education in Bogyoke Aung San’s cabinet.
Prime Minister U Nu, United Nations Secretary General U Thant and Ahmyotha Pyinnya Wun / Educator / Writer U Po Kyar are notable sayas from the National Schools.
The boycott was responsible for the amendments to the RU Act. e.g. opening of schools for engineering and medicine,
A pillar was set up on Shwe Dagon Pagoda in memory of the Boycott.
Sayagyi U Ba Toke(Dec 26, 1920 – Dec 2, 2020)
He is one of the oldest and senior sayas. Some senior sayas (e.g. Daw Hla May / Anne Sine) passed away in early 2020.
Received A.M (Master of Arts in Mathematics) from Harvard University.
Served as Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer and Professor of Mathematics at RU and RASU.
Promoted to Rector, MASU.
With his own volition, he transferred to RIT as Professor of (Engineering) Mathematics.
As a Saya of engineering sayas (e.g. Dr. Aung Gyi, U Min Wun and U Khin Aung Kyi), he was invited to attend SPZP-2000 and give a speech.
Saya attended all SPZPs except SPZP-2002 (which he had to forgo due to Sayagadaw’s health).
Played Chinlon and Soccer.
Co-chair of RU Sports Council Managed the Soccer program.
Headed the Burmese delegation to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Until his 80s, Saya was active (e.g. walk to Shwe Dagon Pagoda with his dhamma friends).
In his 90s, Saya had physical limitations, but his mental faculty was strong as ever.
Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (Tekkatho Maung Thin Char, GBNF) interviewed Saya. Sayama Daw Myint Myint Khaing (daughter of Arzani Mahn Ba Khaing) transcribed the tapes. The book covering Sayagyi’s Life Journey was published by the RU Thin Char Mi Thar Su for Sayagyi’s 80th birthday.
Sayagyi gave me an autographed copy.
Two Sayagyis
U Ba Toke & U Ba Than
Pu Zaw Pwe (PZP) — paying homage to mentors — is a noble tradition. They are also known as Saya Pu Zaw Pwe and Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe.
There have been micro-PZPs, mini-PZPs and grand PZPs.
Saya U Ba Than (born on October 2, 1930) usually visits and pay homage to his saya Sayagyi U Ba Toke at least once every year.
Paying homage to Sayagyi U Ba Toke
During my visits to Yangon, I paid homage to Sayagyi U Ba Toke.
On one visit, Sayagyi gave me an autographed copy of “Life Journey of Mathematics Professor Sayagyi U Ba Toke”. The book was written by Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (Tekkatho Maung Thin Char, GBNF) based on his interviews with Sayagyi U Ba Toke. It also covers the early Thin Char Sayagyis. The book was published by Rangoon University Thin Char Mi Thar Su for Sayagyi’s 80th birthday.
In January 2017, Pansy Ba Toke (Thynn Thynn, ChE 74) asked her son-in-law and daughter to pick up Sayagyi U Ba Than, Saya U Tin Htut and me at Winner Inn to see her father Sayagyi U Ba Toke. Sayagyi had some problems with mobility and vision, but his mind remains crisp and clear.
Pansy was a member of the Swel Daw Yeik “Htee Yein” at the Rangoon University Golden Jubilee in 1970.She has offered transportation to the Sayas who want to visit her father.
Sayagyi sometimesdefer celebrating his birthday so that his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren — far and near — could join the celebration.
Sayagyi is pre-deceased by his beloved spouse, his second son (Soe Win, 6th out of his 8 children) and his second daughter (Kitty, 3rd out of his 8 children)
U Soe PaingU Soe Paing & Daw Saw Yu Tint U Soe Paing, U & Mrs. Hla Min
Name: U Soe Paing
Qualification: BS (Stanford), MS (Stanford), MSc. Computer Science (Southampton)
Department: Electrical Communications Position: Assistant Lecturer, (Jan 1964 to March 1971) Reason for Leaving: Joined Universities’ Computer Center in April 1971.
Engineering Alumni: Attended First Year Faculty of Engineering, Rangoon University from June to December, 1958. Reason for Leaving: Awarded State Scholarship to study in USA.
Occupation: Data Processing Adviser (Retired)
Organization: United Nations
Updates
Saya was my mentor at RIT and UCC.
He offered me and Saya U Aung Zaw (UCC, GBNF) to be his co-authors. We wrote programming texts, manuals and guides.
Saya was a prime mover to get the “RIT Alumni International Newsletters” and http://www-ex-rit.org started.
Saya would mention that I am a “Shay Hmi; Nauk Hmi. ရှေ့မှီ၊ နောက်မှီ”
Sayagadaw added: “Bay Hmi ဘေးမှီ as well’.
Saya wrote articles for the RIT Newsletter and selected journals & magazines. They can be accessed via SCRIB-D
Ko Tin Hla (EP 69) passed away on 10th January 2012 of cancer, which has spread over most of his organs, originally started on his lungs. He was suffering from cancer and was operated four months ago.
His funeral will be on the 12th January 2012 at Yae Wai (13.00 hr).
He is the No. 59 on GBNF (Gone But Not Forgotten) list.
Ko Shwe, Myint Maung. Win Maung, Aung Gyi Shwe, Myint Thein Kabar, and I went and met his family yesterday.
May I remind you to take care of your health.
With Metta and best regards. Aung Min (M 69)
From Ivan Lee (M69)
It is sad news. I was very close with him at the RIT second and third years. I named him Tommy, resident from Myoung-Mya. I met him at the Bassein college first year. He had a younger brother. When his father passed away in Rangoon, I remembered he and I seated together at the front, next to the driver of the funeral car at Rangoon Chinatown. At my RIT 69er welcome party in Yangon in Nov. 2006, that was the last time I saw him.
I am sending my deepest condolence to his family, and wish him be merry whatever he is going to be.
Again, it is an universal rule, we can keep going to lose one after another, will never ever to add any single one more into our network, regardless what, we must regard [and help] one another. And take care of our health, not others assistance, but ourselves desirability.
God bless all of our beloved classmates , alumni, respectful Sayas.
Best regards Ivan Lee USA
From U Aung Kyaw Pe (EP69)
Dear all,
Very sad to hear the demise of him.
Aung K P
From U Sein Myint (EP69)
Dear All,
Very sad to hear from Aung Min regarding Ko Tin Hla from Myoung-Mya.
He is very near to Myint Mg (Bu Gyi). We were very near when doing this and that. Kristian Lal also together with him.
Sein Myint (K K Wong)
From U Thein Swe (EP69)
Dear Ko A Min and all,
Well done! Thanks for your annual and, occasional reports [about the ’69er Health Care Fund]. Once a friend is forever the friend. The older we become the more we should recognize our classmates no matter whether alive or deceased, in high or low profile. Please extend my words of thanks to Ko Shwe, Moe Hein, Myo Nyunt, Myint Sein, Kyaw Zin, Myint Thein, etc for their activities regardless of old age.
There are some outstanding classmates of the year 2011 viz: Ivan Lee @ Khin Maung Oo (USA, Kyaukme, M), unnamed classmate from USA,. Nyunt Nyunt Wai (Tx, Germany).
With metta Thein Swe
From U Sein Tin (M69)
Dear Ko Aung Min and the rest,
Thank you for your annual report of Health Care Fund and activities. You are right. We are at the sun set time. We need both physical and mental support to each other.
You have done well. I support you.
With regards, Sein Tin [Omega]
Updates
At one time, the Class of 69 had median age of 69 and the GBNF list was 69.
At present the Class of 69 has a median age of 78 / 79 and the GBNF list is 138.
Note that several people in the post — Aung Gyi Shwe, “Kabar” Myint Thein and Thein Swe — are now GBNF.
Ma Tin Tin (Anne, EC69) donated $300 to the 69er Health Care Fund. Per her request, she was listed as a “classmate in the US”. She is the lone female EE graduate in 1969. She migrated to the US. She earlier told the 69ers of her volunteer work for immigrants and/or seniors. She attended the Golden Jubilee Celebration in 2019 and donated $1000.
HlaMin 