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  • UCC — Selected Posts

    UCC — Selected Posts

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Prolog

    In the early days, there were no computers in Burma. IBM (International Business Machines) based in the USA and ICL (International Computers Limited) based in the UK had presence in Burma. Both companies were not ready to introduce computers to Burma. They were supposedly content with leasing unit-record equipment (calculators, tabulators, …) using punched cards (which were “reused” as wrappers of “zee thee htokes”). The companies maintained the machines with their staff. U Aung Khin was the IBM representative in Burma. U Kyaw Tha was the ICL representative in Burma. They were highly paid compared to the Government employees. Due to the policies then in place, IBM might not have “incentives” to introduce computers and computing technology to Burma.

    In the early sixties, Saw McCarthy Gyaw (Burma Railways) wanted to “upgrade” to an ICL computer, but the Coup d’etat in 1962 and subsequent restriction of foreign currency exchange (and budget planning rules) “effectively derailed” the idea of “computerization in Burma”.

    In the mid sixties, Saya Chit (Dr. Chit Swe) was Head of the Mathematics Department at IE (Institute of Economics). Saya Chit proposed the need of a computer for teaching and research to Saya Nyi Nyi (Dr. Nyi Nyi, then Secretary [Deputy Minister] of Education). Saya Nyi Nyi suggested the scope to be “extended” for a computer to serve the staff and selected students of the Universities and Institutes. Thus, the UCC Project was conceived”. Saya Chit later became Professor at Mathematics at RASU. Saya offered space at the Mathematics Department for the early volunteers of the UCC Project. Saya later obtained permission to use Mandalay Hall for use by the UCC Project before the UCC Building could be completed in Thamaing College Campus.

    Saya Chit served as the Founder/Director of UCC. He initiated the academic and training programs. He stressed the importance of technology transfer, leapfrogging technology, knowledge sharing (internally and externally), and challenging the staff and students to try their best. Saya Chit requested Saya Paing (U Soe Paing) to help design and implement the UCC project. Saya Chit also inquired the mother of Saya Myo (U Myo Min), who was working at IBM UK after completing his CA (Chartered Accountant) if Saya Myo would be interested to come back to Burma and help with the UCC project. Saya Paing “recruited” his friend Saya Lay (U Ko Ko Lay, GBNF) to help with the UCC project in general and with the UCC Building Design and Implementation in particular.

    It took a long time for UCC up and running. UNDP would be the Funding Agency. UNESCO would be the Executing Agency. Saya Paing’s articles can be downloaded from SCRIB-D.

    Note : For several years, Saya Paing tried to recruit his top students — including my cousin U Thaung Lwin (EC66) — to help with the project and become the pioneer computer engineers.
    U Thaung Lwin, who was “Top of his class”, received an offer to join IBM BURMA. It was Good News and Bad News. The Good News was that he was offered a reasonably high salary (based on the then salary of engineers joining the Government Departments). The Bad News was that he would have to wait a long time until the first computer was purchased and installed at the CSO Computer Section, He had to maintain the “leased” Unit Record Machines for several years.

    Saya TAG (Dr. Tun Aung Gyaw, EC69) was the first and longest volunteer for the UCC Project. Saya Paing transferred from the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) at RIT to UCC as Manager of the Systems Division. Saya Lay transferred from PWD to UCC. Saya Myo joined UCC. The three served as Managers for Systems, Operations, Applications (Scientific, Business …) .

    I was fortunate enough to be a member of GENERATION ZERO along with my mentors and Saya TAG. Saya Paing left UCC in the eighties to pursue a career as Technical Adviser and Consultant for the UN projects in several countries. Saya has documented his experiences from the early States Scholarship in the USA to the UN assignments.

    Since there are blanks to be filled in the history of UCC, DCS ICST (Institute of Computer Science and Technology) and UCSY (University of Computer Studies Yangon), several people asked me to take the challenge or at the very least motivate others to share their experience and journey regarding IT in Burma.
    Relying on (a) my memory, which is reasonably good but imperfect,
    (b) my story telling skills which I inherited from my father, “THIN SAYA”, “MYIN SAYA”, and “KYAR SAYA”, (c) my training in “Communication and Leadership” from Toastmasters International to become a DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster), (d) my experience as a freelance writer, editor, translator, editor, coach, mentor, I have tried my best to prepare material in the form of readable chunks.
    I am confident that other interested sayas and alumni will help enhance the document with photos and anecdotes.

    GBNF

    The following is a partial list of GBNF (Gone But Not Forgotten) from UCC. Some descriptions are brief. Some entries have been covered in detail in other posts.

    • Dr. Chit Swe — Founder-Director of UCC; Saya passed away in Sydney Australia in 2019
    Dr. Chit Swe
    • Dr. Tin Maung — Succeeded Saya Chit as Director of UCC; During his tenure, Department of Computer Science & Institute of Computer Science and Technology (ICST) with Saya as Rector were established.
    • U Ko Ko Lay — Co-founder of UCC; Saya served as Operations Manager, Scientific Applications Manager, Professor at DCS and ICST
    • U Aung Zaw — Wrote lecture guides and manuals with Saya Paing and me; Taught at UCC, CSO, Asssumption Univeristy and Sydney; Passed away in Sydney, Australia in 2021.
    • U Mya Thein — Transferred from the Department of Commerce, Institute of Economics to UCC as Business Applications Programmer; Retired as Business Applications Manager; Taught at UCC, DCS and ICST, but also at ITBMU (International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University).
    • U Kyaw Nyein — Scientific Applications Programmer; Taught Numerical Methods and/or Numerical Analysis; Joined UN; During a UN assignment, his team was relocated due to war/conflict in the area.
    • U Win Naing — Science Scholar; 1st batch of M.Sc. (CS) with Systems Option; Scientific Applications
    • U Hla Min (EP70) — Chief Operator; Attended post-graduate course in UK, where he met his beloved; Early casualty (passed away at the tender age of 30+).
    • U Soe Myint (M72) — Retired as Pro-Rector of ICST
    • U Khin Maung Aye (M73) — 1st batch of M.Sc. (CS) with Applications Option; Railways
    • U Myint Aung (Admin) — Would often drive the E-2000 ferry.
    • Daw Khin Lay Myint (Admin) — Joined UCC as Secretary; Became BC.
    • U Shein Soe Myint (EC83) — Served in various capacities (Engineering, Teaching …); Passed away in Singapore while doing his Ph.D.
    • U Thein Tan — Attended M.Sc.; Close friend of U Zaw Tun.
    • U Aung Aung Thein — served in various capacities at UCC (Engineering, Teaching)
    • Daw Kyu Kyu Lwin — Ad hoc Tutor for Mathematics; Operator / Job Assembler; Transferred to SSB (Social Security Board) Computer Section.
    • Daw Win May Thaung — Operator / Job Assembler; Cousin: Ronnie Hla Maung (SPHS)
    • Daw Khin Mya Swe — M.Sc. (CS); Passed away in Lesotho
    • Daw Khin Toe Nyein — M.Sc. (CS); Classmate: Daw Pale (Pearl) Shein.
    • Daw Thida Aung — M.Sc. (CS); Classmate: Daw Thida Khin.
    • Daw Khin San Hlaing (Cynthia) — UCC Librarian.; M.Sc. (CS); Worked at (or attended) AIT; Passed away in Australia
    • Daw Nge Ma Than — Taught at UCC, DCS and ICST; Prisoner of Conscience; Spouse : U Myint Swe.
    • Daw Aye Aye Kyi — Operator / Job Assembler;Spouse: U Han Nyunt (SPHS)
    • U Maung Maung Gyi — Chief Operator
    • U Maung Maung Lay — Computer Operator
    • U Aung Myint — Computer Engineer
    • U Soe Thein — Business Applications Programmer

    Courses at UCC

    UCC Course

    Saya Chit was Founder/Director of UCC and Professor of Mathematics Department at RASU. Saya Chit arranged UCC to conduct degree and post-graduate diploma courses under the aegis of the Department of Mathematics, RASU. UCC also conducted training courses for computer users. Several distinguished Professors from US, UK and Europe lectured at UCC as part of the “UCC Project”.

    Saya Chit was succeeded as Director of UCC by Dr. Tin Maung (son of U Kar).

    Academic courses

    The courses given under the aegis of Department of Mathematics include :

    • M.Sc. (CS)
    • DAC

    Courses for computer users

    • COC (Computer Orientation Course)
    • CPC (Computer Programming Course)
    • Elective for Honors and Post-graduate in other disciplines
    • Intensive training (e.g. for the Population Census Data Processing)
    • Special training (e.g. for those selected as State Scholars)
    • Planning (e.g. for departments intending to purchase computers)

    Three Win Myint

    There were three people at UCC (Universities’ Computer Center) named Win Myint.

    Win Myint (1)

    U Win Myint and U Maung Maung Lay

    He was a High School Luyechun from Beik (Mergui). He was caught off guard when the then new Education System used the ILA (Intelligence Level Aggregate) to determine the admission to the Universities and Institutes. He found himself studying Philosophy along with others who supposedly had “low” ILA scores.

    Instead of using the marks directly, the ILA uses a “distribution” of the marks for each subject and gives a score from 1 to 20. The ILA system helped students with balanced marks. By having marks in the top tier for each subject, a student can get a good score.

    But a student with low marks in a subject (e.g. Burmese or English) would be penalized by the ILA system.

    Philosophy is derived from Phil (love of) and Sophy (Wisdom). The highest degree is called Ph.D (Doctorate of Philosophy). It is ironic that students with low ILA scores were forced to major in Philosophy.

    Ko Win Myint is an exception. He was determined to pursue a challenging career. Since he wanted to learn and work with computers, he enhanced his typing skills for both English and Burmese. It was a requirement for the position of Secretary at the newly formed UCC.

    Grapevine says that his interview at PSC (Public Services Commission) was fast and smooth. When he said, “I am Bet Thar (or similar meaning ‘I am from Beik (Mergui)’”, the PSC Chairman who was from Beik validated Ko Win Myint’s appointment as Secretary.

    He not only typed very fast, but he learned Computer Science and Applications quickly and proficiently. He became a programmer.

    Win Myint (2)

    • He majored in Mathematics and received Masters.
    • He was from SLR Settlement and Land Record dept.
    • He got appointment in UCC as programmer and then got UNV post at PG.

    Win Myint (3)

    He operated the cyclostyle (Gestener). The lecture guides were printed mostly on Sittaung paper and some on the Ye Ni paper.

    Lecture Guides

    “Introduction to Computers”, “Introduction to Computer Programming” and several Guide Books were written by Saya U Soe Paing, Saya U Aung Zaw and me. We thank Ko Win Myint (1) and Ko Win Myint (3) for the production.

    Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint wrote :

    I had a different story about getting a job. I had only done 8 month internship, one of the tutors in medicine was transferred out. When Saya U Ba Than asked whom the professors wanted to replace her, they asked for me. I was called in by the Rector about posting me as tutor. When I told him I could not join not having finished my internship, he was so upset that “You want to erase with your feet, what I has written by hand”. I was made to report for duty. I went back and with the professor’s permission, I returned to finish my internship to get my medical registration.

    Soon, my friends and I had to go for interview with PSC. The Chairman of PSC was U Khin Maung Phyu. Both he and Dr U Ba Than were classmates with my father. As I went in U Ba Than said to U Khin Maung Phyu, “Ko Khin Maung Phyu, he is Ko Kyaw Myint’s son and I have already posted him to Department of Medicine.” U Khin Maung Phyu said, “How is your father?” I replied that my father was good. Then he said that I could go !!! Must be the shortest interview in PSC.

    History

    I love history including History of Computing and History of Myanmar Engineering Education.

    Why should we study History? Dr. Than Tun said, “So that one would not be stupid or dumb.” There’s an old adage, “History repeats itself”.

    A historian presents facts. He should not give his opinion.

    The historian from Smithsonian said, “There is no single correct history. There are often multiple competing histories.”

    I am grateful to my spouse, who said “You should pay back to your alma mater and your country.”

    Saya U Tin Maung Nyunt (M60) said that I should record my oral stories and put them to print for posterity. UCSY sayamas requested me to write for 30th Anniversary of ICST/UCSY.

    My beloved parents said, “Any thing that’s worth doing is worth doing well”.

    I have shared my memories about the early days of Computing in Burma.

    I am revising the posts.

    I hope that the readers will help “fill in the blanks” and correct errors and inconsistencies. Collectively, we can turn the posts into a reasonably good document worthy of printing (or at least publish as an e-book).

    Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint wrote :

    When we conducted the Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Study, the data analysis was from me at UCC. Ko Ronnie Myo Min and many UCC staff helped us with the data analysis.

    Dr. TOKM added :

    The next project we did was “Risk Approach in Delivery of MCH Care”. We did a prospective study on the risk of mothers dying during pregnancy and child birth. As the outcome was measured by “relative risk” and “absolute risk” it was much easier to analyse the data.

    Our team used 1MB handheld Sinclair computer for our study. Our team did not have monitors nor printers. Your nephew Peter (Khin Tun) worked out RR and AR on Sinclair, read the result on Saya U Tin U’s old TV and copied out the results by hand. Peter still had a copy of the final report. I left my copy at home and got lost.

    UCC Gatherings

    Over the years, I attended several mini-gatherings and gatherings hosted by UCC sayas and alumni.

    Yangon

    Saya U Soe Paing regularly hosted gatherings (usually dinner meeting) at his house. Sayagadaw Daw Saw Yu Tint (Alice, T69) was my class mate. She also attended CPC course.

    U Thein Oo, Daw Than Than Tint, Daw Tin May Lwin and several others help organize the gatherings.

    U Thein Oo, U Htin Kyaw, U Aung Aung and several others provided us transportation to or from Saya Paing’s house.

    UCC 40th Anniversary Gathering

    • It was the Reunion of Staff, Teachers (Past and Present) and Students.
    • Daw Ngwe Tin, Aye Aye Myint and sisters, Maung Myint, who maintained the UCC building rooms were among the attendees.
    • Dr. Tin Maung (GBNF) was represented by Sayagadaw and Saya’s daughter.
    • There was fun and laughter, music and dances, and good old memories.
    • Daw Khin Lay Myint joined UCC as Secretary and then worked as Administrator Officer. She is now GBNF.
    • U Soe Myint (M72) joined UCC as Operator. He served as Shift Lead, expert in Mechanical Drawing and AutoCAD, and retired as Pro-Rector of ICST. He is also GBNF.

    UCSY Gathering

    In January 14, 2018, I attended the 5th UCSY Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe as “Generation Zero” representative and the “Most Senior” (not by age). Several attendees started their studies and/or careers at UCC.

    Sao Yan Naing, son of Dr. Saw Naing (SPHS59), gave me a ride to the Pu Zaw Pwe. He is a nephew of Dr Myo Khin & a cousin of Soe Lin Maung (UCC).

    Sydney in 2006

    During my visit to Sydney in 2006, I met several UCC alumni.

    Saya U Aung Zaw (GBNF) and Daw Kyawt organized a Reunion and mini-PZP for Saya Dr. F Ba Hla (GBNF) & Saya Dr. Chit Swe (GBNF). They were helped by U Sein Myint Maung & Daw Khin Aye Mu, U Htay Aung (Victor) & Daw Tin Tin Hlaing to name a few. I met Daw Thanda Htwe and “UCC Pha Yaung Daing”.

    U Sein Tin hosted a dinner and also created a short music video.

    USA

    Dr. Raiful Ahad (Fremont), U Khin Zaw (Cupertino), U Aung Myint Oo (EC84) and Daw Thida Khin (Fremont), U Sein Myint (EC76) & Daw Sao Mon Sint (New Jersey) and U Toung (EC69, Connecticut) hosted UCC gatherings (especially to welcome and alumni visiting US).

    Ivan Lee (M69) hosts an annual joint gathering for UCC and RIT sayas and alumni at his home in New Jersey.

    Singapore

    U Tin Aung Win (C80), U Zaw Tun and Daw Pale Shein organized buffet gathering. U Aung Aung, & Daw Kyin Mya are regulars at the gatherings.

    U Shein Soe Myint (EC83) is GBNF.

    Some (e.g. U Win Latt, Daw Myint Myint Thein) have moved from Singapore.

    Activities

    Table Tennis (Ping Pong)

    U Saung Tin (CSO) and U Thein Oo are excellent players.

    Volleyball

    Rafiul Ahad (who was 3rd in Burma in Hurdles) hurt his knee.
    Daw Nwe Nwe Win (Judy) is often the sixth member of an all-male team.

    Soccer

    UCC team (including Saya U Ko Ko Lay & U Kyaw Nyein) played against other teams in and around Hlaing Campus.

    UCC Dobat

    U Win Hlaing played the Dobat. Others (e.g. Maung Myint, U Hla Pe) would play Wah Let Khote (bamboo clapper) and Ya Gwin.

    Donlaba

    UCC used to celebrate Thingyan and Su Paung Donlaba.

    Dr. Chit Swe, Win Maung, Hla Min, Tun Aung Gyaw, Soe Myint, Khin Maung Aye, Daw Khin Khin Latt

    UCC had a Su Paung Donlaba for several years at Kaba Aye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung and other monasteries.

    The Donlaba monks would be offered Soon at the UCC Thingyan.

    There would also be Water Throwing and occasionally “Ye Pet Khan” to selected mandats.

    Ad Hoc Trips

    U Aung Zaw led some trips (e.g. to Maw Tin Zun).

    Soul Mates

    Some found their soul mates while working or studying at UCC.

    • Aung Aung & Kyin Mya
    • Aung Myint Oo & Thida Khin
    • Boe Ba Shan & Phyu Phyu Win
    • Kyaw Zwa Than (Jaws) & Khin Khin Kyu (K-cube)
    • Htay Aung & Tin Tin Hlaing
    • Myint Oo & Tin Tin Hla
    • Myint Swe & Nge Ma Ma Than
    • Myint Zaw & Nwe Nwe Win (Judy)
    • Sein Myint (Bei Gyi) & Sao Mon Sint (Cindy)
    • Sein Myint Maung & Khin Aye Mu
    • Soe Than & Wai Wai Than
    • Than Maung Maung & Khin Si Thoung
    • Thaung Tin & Tin Tin Aye
    • Thein Oo & Than Than Tint
    • Win Hlaing & Thida Kyi
    • Win Myint & Nu Nu Aung

    Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ) wrote :

    Ko Soe Myint Gyi was one of the very humble people I have ever known. He spoke very soft, never see him angry nor heard him raise his voice. Even though I am some years junior to him (he’s M72 and me EC76) he always treated me with dignity and respect. I really miss him, may his beautiful soul rest in peace.

    Anniversary Soon Kway

    U Thein Oo and Daw Than Than Tint Soon Kway at Yaw Sayadaw’s Kayung Daik.

    Attendees include

    • Saya U Soe Paing and Daw Saw Yu Tint (Alice, T69)
    • U Myint Swe
    • Daw Tin Moe We (Sweetie)
    • Daw Myint Myint Thein (Susan)
    Soon Kyway

    Dr. Htay Lwin Nyo (GBNF)

    • He matriculated from SPHS in 1968. Hewas admitted as Roll Number One to 1st BE.
      He was selected RIT Luyechun.
    • He graduated among the top of the EP74 class.
    • He studied Computer Science at UCC.
    • He received a Ph.D. in EE from Syaracuse University, New York.
    • His final job was as Part Time Professor at San Jose State University (SJSU).
    • He used the spare time for his hobbies :
      (a) Tinkering old cars (b) Painting (c) Cooking (d) Stock Market (e) Writing movie scripts
    • He did not miss a class. When he did not show up for a few classes, the students were alarmed and requested SJSU authorities to check his home. They found the doors locked. After a few days, they broke in to find him lifeless on his bed. Postmortem indicated an aneurysm.
    • Since he was single and had no next-o-kin in the USA, SJSU asked the Burmese Community to help. Members of the “RIT Alumni International” and BAPS helped with the fund raising for the final journey of HLN.
    • I was honored to push the incinerator, and later to scatter the ashes in the ocean. There was no next-of-kin of HLN in the USA. KMZ remembered that Kyaw Swa Than (Jaws, UCC) was HLN’s cousin. The missing link was supplied by some alumni (including Ko Ko Kyi). KMZ set up special web page for HLN. My poem was also posted there. I wrote about HLN’s Sea Burial for BAPS Newsletter.

    HLN Memorial Pages

    U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76, KMZ) set up the “HLN Memorial Pages” in the ex-RIT web site (which is now defunct). I wrote a poem “HTAY LWIN NYO“.

    BAPS Newsletter

    I also wrote “A Sea Burial for Professor Htay Lwin Nyo” for the BAPS Newsletter and the RIT web site.

    Ko Ko Kyi (EC72) wrote :

    Ko Hla Min, sad to read about Htay Lwin Nyo’s sea burial. I played a small part in notifying his first cousin Myo San Than in Toronto, when my brother called me from Birmingham, UK and informed me about HLN’s demise. Apparently, someone from California had contacted a friend of my brother’s and asked him to inform me, as he knew that HLN had a cousin living in Toronto. I informed HLN’s cousin Myo San Than, who called his elder brother living in Winnipeg, Canada. Subsequently, this cousin went to the US for HLN’s funeral. HLN was a good friend of mine, although he was two years my junior at RIT.

    Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, EC76) wrote :

    I was actually a former classmate of HLN’s younger brother Aung Lwin Nyo in St. Paul’s High School [SPHS (6) Botataung]. All their brothers were OPs, HLN was 2 years senior to us, Old Paulians. I did not know HLN that well until we met again, the third time, at UCC. Of course he was part of our rival group while at RIT. Both of us ended up in US, he was several years earlier than me.

    We met again when he moved to West Coast, namely San Jose, California while I was in Seattle. We visited him in San Jose, went Yosemite among other places, he visited us in Seattle, went up to Vancouver, Canada. Couple of years moved, he became upset with me for a reason unknown to me at the time, refused to take my calls. I eventually met him on one of my visits to California, forced him to tell me why he did not want to talk to me any longer. According to him, there were some rumors back in Yangon about his demise, his parents were very upset and he surmise that it could have been me who spread these rumors. I had to swear to him that those were nothing to do with me at all, as I lost contact with everyone, family and friends, back in Burma at that time.

    So one could imagine my despair when I received a call, a year or so later, from Maurice Chee (M75) that HLN was found dead in his apartment, asking me if I knew him and also requested me to make an announcement on www,ex-rit,org site. I had to explain Maurice the background story, told him I would not do so until I have a solid information. I ended up calling HLN’s head of department at SJSU, San Jose State University. She assured me that they went to HLN’s apartment, broke it inside with the help of the Police. Sad news indeed. While Maurice Chee, Ko Banny Tan (M70), U Hla Min and RIT Alumni at BAPS, Bay Area alumni group, started working on the funeral, I called a friend, HLN’s cousin, in Manitoba, Canada, Kyaw Zwa Than (ex-UCC), to get the contact of HLN’s family back in Rangoon. I finally spoke with the elder brother, Ko Kyaw Lwin Nyo, who requested us to proceed with the funeral.

    PS: I met HLN’s elder brother for the first time, this passed November 2018, at the OPA, Old Paulians’ Association, dinner. My OP friends told me that Aung Lwin Nyo met similar fate, passed away while in his bed some years back. Myo San Than (as mentioned in U Ko Ko Kyi’s comment) is the younger brother of Kyaw Zwa Than. KZT’s family : KZT, his wife KCube (Khin Khin Kyi) and their two sons, Alex and Nicholas, have since moved to Denver, Colorado, USA.

    Daw Nge Ma Ma Than (GBNF)

    • Ma Nge (Theresa, GBNF) is the youngest child of U Aung Than (brother of Boyoke Aung San & Arzanee U Ba Win).
    • She matriculated from MEHS.
    • She graduated from RASU.
    • She studied and taught at UCC, DCS and ICST.
    • At UCC, she and Judy (Nwe Nwe Win) were considered as “UCC Twins”. Grapevine says that some guy approached them and gave each a copy of his “Yee Zar Sar” (love letter).
    • She found her love life U Myint Swe (ex-UCC).
    • During the Adhamma Era, she, her brother and U Myint Swe were detained by the higher authorities.
    • She became a Prisoner of Conscience.
    • I last met her at the 5th Acariya Puzaw Pwe of ICST.
    • Her health declined, but she kept on smiling. She did not complain about the aches and pains.
    • U Myint Swe reported the journal of her hospitalization and medical treatment.
    • Even in her final days, her thoughts were with former Prisoners of Conscience.
    Ma Nge at the hospital
    Ma Nge and her cousin

    U Soe Myint (M72, GBNF)

    • M72 friends call him “Phone Gyi Soe Myint”. At UCC, he is known as “Sunlun Soe Myint”.
    • His father U Thein Nyunt (Retired Secretary of Religious Affairs) was a friend and an early devotee of Sayadaw U Vinaya. U Soe Myint also served as Kappiya from his younger days.
    • He came to see me during my last visit and shared his knowledge about U Lokanatha (Italian American monk) and how he provided financial support to buy the land for Kaba Aye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung.
      He gave me a “Chone Hte” (for monk) to take back to the US.
    • On a subsequent visit to Yangon, we were sad to learn of his untimely demise.
    • On the fateful day, he made two trips to the Kaba Aye Sunlun Gu Kyaung monastery, because he forgot his donation on his first trip. He also visited his nephew & niece who were having dialysis treatment. May be because of his karma or because of the trips he took that day, he passed away around 3 AM.

    Four Decade Old Photo

    • Win Hlaing
    • Henry Maung Maung (Census, GBNF)
    • Kyu Kyu Lwin (GBNF)
    • Khin Si Thoung (Busi Baung – USA)
    • Khin Khin Win (Five Star Line – USA)
    • Phyu Phyu Win (Singapore)
    • Win May Thaung (GBNF)
    • Tin Tin Yi (Port Authority)
    • Hla Hla Win (Wa – GBNF)
    • Aung Myint (AM, GBNF)
    • Soe Myint (Sunlun, M72, GBNF)

    Seven of the eleven in the photo are GBNF (Gone But Not Forgotten)

    Annotation by KMZ, AM, Judy, Sweetie

    Epilog

    Computer Science and Technology is continually evolving.

    There are two (or more) early definitions of Computer Science.

    • Computer Science is the study of phenomena surrounding Computing.
    • Computer Science is the study of Algorithms and Data Structures.

    The first definition has the same flavor as a definition of Physics. It is general to say, “Physics is the study of natural phenomena.”

    The second definition might sound restrictive, but it still covers a lot of topics and application.

    There is a book called “PROGRAM = ALGORITHMS + DATA STRUCTURES”.

    Professor Donald Knuth (Stanford University) thought that he could finish his 7-volume book “THE ART OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING” in a couple of years. It was an under-estimate of the growth of Computers, Computer Science and Applications. It took over two decades to complete and revise the first three volumes and part of the fourth volume. One reason was that his book contributed to the growth of the Design and Analysis of Algorithms.

    • I have covered some topics in the early days of Computing in general and UCC in particular.
    • I missed out several people. I mentioned many names, but did not elaborate on some of them.
    • I did not cover in-depth the PDP configuration and use, the introduction of PCs, and robots.
    • It would take a long time and I would not be able to fill in all the blanks.
    • I believe an idea that characterizes Jules Verne. “If one can dream, others can fulfill”.
    • I had a personal experience to support that idea. In 1999, I started “RIT International Newsletter” and dreamed that sayas and alumni will get reconnected electronically and physically. With the help of sponsors (including five Golden Sponsors), able and dedicated sayas and alumni, volunteers, supporters and well-wishers, the First RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP (Saya Pu Zaw Pwe) was held in San Francisco in October 2000. The world-wide SPZPs were subsequently held in Singapore in 2002, 2007 and 2010, and in Yangon in 2004, 2012 and 2016.

    I have paid back to RIT.

    I am now paying back to UCC, DCS and ICST.

    Thanks to my family members for supporting me in the endeavors to pay back to the institutions and my mentors that helped me develop to where I am today.

    I am confident that sayas and alumni of UCC, ICST & UCSY will enhance my posts into a document that historians will envy.

  • Paying Back

    Paying Back

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Paying back ကျေးဇူး ဆပ်

    From our younger days, we learned about paying respect to our parents, mentors and benefactors.

    ကျွန်တော် တို့ ငယ်စဉ် ကတည်း က ကျေးဇူးတရား အကြောင်း လေ့လာ မှတ်သား လေ့ကျင့် ခဲ့ ရပါတယ်။

    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.

    ကျွန်တော် Computer History Museum မှာ Docent အဖြစ် နှစ်နှစ် volunteer လုပ်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။ Computer Pioneer တွေ ကို မှတ်တမ်းတင်ဂုဏ်ပြု တဲ့ အဖွဲ့အစည်းပါ။ Artifacts, Exhibits, Oral History, Lectures & Panels တွေ စုံလင်ပါတယ်။

    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၊
    • Contributing Editor of RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine / မဂ္ဂဇင်း : စာတည်း
    • Former employee of UCC, DCS, ICST : ဝန်ထမ်း ငြိမ်း၊
    • စာပေ၊ သမိုင်း၊ ပညာရေး နဲ့ အားကစား ဝါသနာရှင်၊
      Interests : Literature, History, Education, Sports
    • Contributor of Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife
    • စာအုပ်တချို့ ရဲ့ စာတည်း
      Editor of selected books — e.g by Sayadaw U Jotalankara, Saya U Aung Zaw (UCC, GBNF)
    • Own / ကိုယ်ပိုင် website : Author / Editor
      hlamin.com

    I have posted articles of historical interest.

    အဖြစ်နဲ့ သမိုင်းဝင် အကြောင်းအရာ တချို့ကို ပြန်လည်မျှဝေ နေဆဲပါ။

    ကြည်နူး Delighted

    I am glad to receive feedback, information and suggestions from my former teachers, family members of senior alumni, colleagues and friends.

    Posts တွေမှာ ပါတဲ့ ဆရာ၊ ဆရာမ၊ Senior Alumni တွေရဲ့ မိသားစုများ၊ အပေါင်းအသင်းများ ရဲ့ Feedback & Information တွေ ဖတ်ရလို့ ဝမ်းသာပါတယ်။

    I also learned a lot from the posts by Subject Matter Experts and Group Experts.

    SME (Subject Matter Experts), Group Experts … တွေ ရဲ့ posts တွေ ကို ဖတ် ရလို့ ဗဟုသုတ ရပါတယ်။

    Credits

    I have provided Credit for the Photos and References.

    တတ်နိုင်သရွေ့ Source, Photos တွေကို Credit ပေးခဲ့ ပါတယ်။

    Fond Memories

    Pon Tu (Portrait) Present from

    Bagyee Myat Myo Myint (U Myo Myint)

    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 April to 2025
    Chief Editor of RIT Alumni International Newsletter

    https://hlamin.com/2024/03/09/rit-alumni-newsletter-for-spzp-2000-2/

    RIT Alumni Newsletter

    2000 October
    Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in California

    SPZP-2000

    SPZP-2000 Organizers

    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

    2012 December
    Saya Pu Zaw Pwe at Gyogone Campus

    SPZP-2012

    ပွင့်လင်းခေတ်
    2012 မှာ ကျင်းပခဲ့ တဲ့ ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ
    SPZP-2012: True Home Coming

    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

    2013
    RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

    RUBC

    2013 — ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ် လှေလှော်အသင်း ရဲ့ နှစ် 90 ပြည့် အထိမ်း အမှတ်စာစောင်
    RUBC 90th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

    2014 December
    RIT Shwe YaDu (Golden Jubilee)

    SDY Magazine

    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

    SPHS

    Std VI (D)

    Saya U Pe Tin’s Class
    • Saya U Pe Tin was a Subject Teacher in Std. V(D) and our Class Teacher in Std. VI(D). He gave out three awards (a) for highest marks (b) for best handwriting (c) for စာရိတ္တ
    • Ms. Amelia Kyi / Miss Hong Kong taught us English in Std. VI(D) and Std. VII(D). She would fine 50 pyas for failing in her tests and exams. My daily allowance was 25 pyas. She would often reward 50 pyas to those who scored well in her tests.
  • Names — Lwin လွင်

    Names — Lwin လွင်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    • Arthur Lwin, Dr. / U Myo Min (EENT)
    • Aung Lwin : Academy award winner, Director, Script writer and Actor
    • Aung Lwin / Jasper (C70) : Secretary of RIT Rowing Association
    Aye Lwin
    • Aye Lwin (M69, GBNF) : Secretary of the RIT Mechanical Engineering Association; Secretary of RIT Annual Magazine; Attended 2015 Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles
    • Aye Lwin (GBNF) : Maths, RUBC, SLRD
    • Aye Lwin : Mar Lwin’s brother
    • Ba Lwin (Myoma) : Headmaster; Chief Boy Scout of Burma; Ambassador to Ceylon
    Dr. Ba Lwin
    • Ba Lwin, Dr. (EE59, GBNF) : He and U Myo Kyi (EE59) are the senior sayas (by seniority) at the EE Department
    • Chit Lwin : attended UCC
    • Khin Maung Lwin, Dr. : FAME
    • Khin Maung Lwin (Kyet Taw) : M87-91 Group
    • Kyi Lwin (George, C67)
    • Kyin Lwin (M69, GBNF)
    Kyaw Lwin (Seated 2nd from Right)
    • Kyaw Lwin (George Saw Lwin, EC64, GBNF) : Saya, Pianist & Rower
    • Kyaw Lwin (C) : Minister; Former DG
    • Kyaw Lwin Hla : RIT English; Joined UNDP
    • Lwin Aung, Dr. (A59) : Former Professor & Head of Architecture Department; Retired as Pro-Rector of YTU; Monk for several years
    Dr. Lwin Aung
    • Lwin Lwin Oo
    • Lwin Mar Oo : Winner Inn, W Bistro
    • Lwin Swe, Bo (EE61) : Great Grandfather
    Bo Lwin Swe
    • Lwin Oo : Blogger
    • Lwin Oo : Dhamma friend
    • Maung Lwin : Former MI Chief and Ambassador to Germany.
    • Maung Lwin : Minister; Father of Toe Lwin & Soe Lwin
    • Maung Lwin : Minister; Founding member of NLD; Father of Su Su Lwin
    • Maung Lwin (Dawei) : Owned a schooner. Hla Moe (Han Shein), his second son, perished when the schooner sank.
    • “Maung Mae Thit Lwin Kyo So Pwe” : Welcome party for freshers
    • Mya Lwin
    • Myat Lwin
    • Myat Soe Lwin / Sai Hwet (EP69)
    • Min Lwin, Dr. (SPHS60) : Orthopedic Surgeon
    Min Lwin (2nd from Right)

    Min Lwin (Maurice Hla Kyi, SPHS64) : Fifth in Burma in Matric; Admitted as Roll No. (2) to IM(2)

    U Myint Lwin (Standing)
    • Myint Lwin (Charlie, UCC) : Burma Judo Champion; German Diploma from IFL
    • Myint Lwin Thein, Dr. : His department offered DAG (Diploma in Applied Geology) courses.
    • Myint Thein Lwin (M62)
    • Myo Lwin : RUBC
    • Myo Lwin : RIT, GTI Saya
    • Myo Lwin : Dhamma friend & organizer
    • Myo Lwin : Entrepreneur
    • Pyin Oo Lwin : Maymyo
    • San Lwin, Dr. (Ronald Lwin, GBNF) : RUBC Gold; Cardiologist
    • Saw Lwin : Director General at the Department of Higher Education
    • Saw Lwin : He and Su Su have three daughters: Hazel, Olive and May
    • Sein Lwin (GBNF) : Professor of Zoology
    • Sein Lwin (Raymond Ba Phyu, GBNF) : Vocalist. Perished in an air plane crash
    • Soe Lwin, Dr. : Dhamma teacher
    • Soe Lwin (EC66) : Railways
    • Soe Lwin : Physics, Luyechun
    U Soe Myint Lwin
    • Soe Myint Lwin (EC68, GBNF) : Burma Selected in Soccer
    • Than Lwin (Eric Lwin, GBNF) : Economics Lecturer; Librarian at the Faculty of Social Science
    • Than Lwin : UCC, CSO, Singapore
    • Than Lwin : Japanese Diploma
    • Than Lwin : EPC
    • Thaung Lwin (EC66) : RUBC Past Captain & Gold
    • Thaung Lwin / Michael Maung Maung (SPHS63, GBNF) : DSA; Railways; Dy. Minister
    • Thein Lwin (EE, GBNF) : Saya at RIT & Singapore Poly; President of RIT Badminton Association
    • Thein Lwin (M71) : Phyu
    • Thein Lwin : Mar Lwin’s brother
    • Thet Lwin, Dr. : Statistics Saya
    • Thet Lwin : Registrar, RIT; Director, DHE
    • Thet Lwin (Henry, EC72)
    • Thet Lwin (EE, UCC)
    • Tin Maung Lwin (RUBC) : Brother of U Tin Maung Latt
    • Tin Maung Lwin (Kenneth Lwin, RUBC)
    • Tin Maung Lwin (TBSA)
    • Tin May Lwin (UCC, DCS, ICST)
    • Tint Lwin (Daniel, M69) : Retired as Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering from NTU; Attended SPZPs and took part in the Entertainment Program as a vocalist. Plays guitar with Albert Kyaw Min & Robert Win Boh at the 69er gatherings.
    • Toe Lwin : Eco
    • Wai Lwin (RIT)
    • Wai Wai Lwin (Emma Lwin, TBSA)
    • Win Lwin (M69) : Secretary of the RIT Hiking & Mountaineering Association. Climbed Mount Victoria with students from other Universities & Institutes.
    • Zaw Lwin : Actor

  • Daw Emma Gyi

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    January 2013

    Birthday Party

    U Wai Lwin hosted a surprise birthday party for Daw Emma Gyi. It was a few days after SPZP-2012.

    Attendees

    • Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi
    • Saya U Tin Htut
    • Saya Dr. Aung Soe
    • Saya U Thein Tan,
    • Saya U Myo Myint
    • Steeve Kay (U Thaung Sein)
    • Benny Tan
    • U Ohn Khine
    • U Soe Aung,
    • Rosie Tin Maung
    • Rosie Gyi (Mai Khin Nyunt)
    • Daw Kyi Kyi Sein (Bei Oo)
    • Daw Lei Lei Chit
    • Several more from the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65

    New Jersey (2015)

    NJ
    • In July 2015, Ivan Lee (M69) hosted us along with Saya Dr. Aung Gyi & Daw Emma.
    • We joined the RIT-UCC party at Ivan’s house.
    On the way to NY
    • Ivan showed us around New Jersey and New York.

    Trip to Napean (2015)

    Daw Emma Gyi

    Ivan organized a whirlwind trip to Canada & East Coast of USA.

    He provided his car & gas. He drove part of the trip.

    Fred Thetgyi (M69) drove most of the trip.

    In the second leg, we visited Saya Dr. Aung Gyi & Daw Emma.

    Saya took us to Thousand Islands.

    Posts

    • Dr. Aung Gyi
    • Gatherings
    • RIT-UCC Party in New Jersey
    • Trips
  • K – O

    K – O

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Kha Lay ခလေး

    In Burmese, it means child.
    Kha Lay Ba Wa means childhood. The days of the innocent childhood became a theme of the song composed by Sai Kham Leik and sung by Sai Htee Saing. We had a Kha Lay Ah Thinn (Children’s Club).

    Kindness

    Random acts of kindness may be reciprocated even by seemingly bad people.
    My father volunteered at a “Bain Phut Ah Thin” for rehabilitating opium addicts. He gave a rehabilitated addict some money to pay for the fare back home. It was an act of random kindness.
    During the Second World War, my parents and his siblings decided to take refuge at Neikbeinda Hills in Prome. My father sent his assistant ahead of him. Unfortunately, the assistant encountered a group of bandits. He pleaded the bandits not to take away his saya’s possessions. When the bandit leader learned that the saya was my father, he decided to guard the assistant on the way to the Neikbeinda Hills.
    The leader also offered a surprise gift — a box of condensed milk — for my father.

    Language

    • Burmese language
      Spoken language : Myanmar Sagar
      Written language : Myanmar Sar
      Burmese language processing
    • Chomsky hierarchy of languages
    • Classification
    • Computer language
    • Dictionary
    • Font — Zawgyi (not Unicode compliant); Pyidaungsu & others (which are Unicode compliant)
    • Grammar — Myanmar Thadda by U Pe Maung Tin
    • Idiom
    • Keyboard
    • Language processing
    • Natural language
    • Natural language processing
    • Programming language
    • Proverb
    • Syntax
      Abstract syntax
      Concrete syntax
    • Semantics
      Axiomatic semantics
      Denotational semantics
      Operational semantics
    • Pragmatics
    • Spelling
      Spelling checker
    • Thesaurus
    • Typewriter
    • Word processor

    Leader

    • Do not repeat the same mistake
    • Ego-less leader
    • Lead by example
    • Make as many mistakes as possible (to gain experience)
    • Pull (instead of Push)
    • Servant leader

    Learning

    • Fun with Learning
    • Life Long Learning
    • Tips

    Level

    • Advanced : High
    • A-level (GCE) : Advanced Level
    • AP : Advanced Placement
    • Basic : Beginner : Introduction : Low : Primary
    • General Honors
    • Intermediate : Medium : Middle
    • O-Level (GCE) : Ordinary Level
    • Special Honors

    Library

    • Private
    • Public
    • University
    • National

    Like

    • Before Facebook introduced emojis, some users overused the “Like” button.
    • I was puzzled to see Likes in an Obituary posting.
      Shouldn’t one be sad?
    • Are some users clicking “Like” without reading if the posting is current or old, and if the contents are really likeable.

    Literary Talks

    • Myanmar
    • Irrawaddy Literary Festival

    Logic

    • 2VL : Two Valued Logic
    • 3VL : Three Valued Logic
    • ALU : Arithmetic Logical Unit
    • Fuzzy Logic
    • Logic Theorist
    • Logical constant
    • Logical expression
    • Logical variable
    • Predicate : Predicate Calculus
    • Proposition : Propositional Calculus

    Lokathana, Venerable

    U Lokanatha
    • U Lokanatha (1897 – 1966) was an Italian Chemist in USA.
    • He received a book (containing Dhammapada) from his supervisor for Christmas present.
    • After reading the Dhammapada, he decided to quit his job and become a Buddhist monk in Asia.
    • He spent his life practicing and preaching in Burma & going on Dhamma Duta missions to neighboring countries.
    • My grandmother donated a monastery in Bawdigone, Rangoon.

    Loss

    • Loss of manuscripts
      Daw Khin Mya Mu
    • Lossless compression
    • Lossy comprehension
    • Win-Lose
    • Win-Tie-Lose
    • Agony of some second place finishers
      Buzz Aldrin
      Post-doc in Physics at the University of Iowa

    Malware

    • Malicious software industry is responsible for losses (in down time, data corruption, identity theft) in the billions.
    • According to one report, the industry is more profitable and safer than the drug dealing.
    • The penalty of offenders for malicious software is “peanuts” (e.g. little or no jail time) compared to drug dealers (e.g. life imprisonment and death penalty) in most countries.

    Mathematics

    • Discipline
    • Curriculum
    • Development (Concrete Mathematics, Computational Mathematics)

    Mechanical Engineering

    • Discipline
    • U Aung Khin
    • U Ba Than
    • U Kyin Soe
    • U San Tun
    • U Tin Hlaing

    Medical Pioneers

    • U Ko Gyi
    • U Maung Maung Gyi
    • U Ba Than

    Memory

    • Short term memory
    • Long term memory
    • Associative memory
    • Memory Feats (Tipitaka Sayadaw)

    Metallurgy

    • Discipline
    • U Thit
    • Dr. Saw Pru
    • Dr. Khin Maung Win

    Mining Engineering

    • Discipline
    • U Soe Khaw
    • U Soon Sein
    • U Win Kyaing

    Models

    • Physical model
    • Mathematical model
    • Computational model

    Movies

    • Myanmar
    • Foreign
    • Myanmar Movies Centennial in 2020

    Music

    • Discipline
    • Musical Instruments
    • Computer applications

    My Dreams

    • Dream big; Others can fulfill
    • RIT Alumni International
    • Saya Pu Zaw Pwe / SPZP
    • Oral and Written History

    Myanmar

    • Myanmar Sagar : Spoken Burmese
    • Myanmar Sar : Written Burmese
    • Word Processing
    • Unicode compliance

    National Foreign Language Center

    • Projects
    • Burmese Language Project (Reading, Listening)

    News

    • Breaking news — Stop Press in early newspapers
    • Censorship
    • Current news
    • Does not stand for “North, East. West, South” or “Notable Events, Weather, Sports”
    • Facts
      Fact checking
    • Fake news
      Biased report
      Rumor
    • Internet
    • News Agency
      AFP
      Reuters
      UPI
    • News Agency Burma (NAB)
      Burmese section
      English section
    • News Media
    • Newspapers
      Burmese Newspapers
      English Newspapers
    • Noun (not plural of “New”, which is an adjective)
    • Online
    • Radio
    • Reliability
    • Television

    Number

    • Binary number
    • Complex number
    • Decimal number
    • Exponent
    • Fermat
    • Hexadecimal number
    • Hindu-Arabic numeral
    • Imaginary number
    • Index
    • Integer
    • Irrational number
    • Logarithm
    • Mantissa
    • Negative number
    • Non-negative number
    • Notation
    • Number Systems
    • Number Theory
    • Numbered lists
    • Octal number
    • Positive number
    • Power
    • Prime number
    • Quotient
    • Ramanujan
    • Rational number
    • Real number
    • Remainder
    • Roman numeral
    • Signed
    • Symbol
    • Ternary number
    • Unsigned
    • Value
    • Zero

    NorCal RITAA

    • The EC and BOD of Northern California RIT Alumni Association met (at least) quarterly for face-to-face meetings.
    • The photo is taken together with spouses and supporters.
    • The background vinyl displays our alma mater.

    November

    • Background
    • Events

    Obsolescence

    • Technical Obsolescence

    October

    • Calendars
    • World Teachers’ Day
    • Saya U Ba Than’s birthday
    • Halloween and Pumpkin Festival
    • Ockoberfest
    • Occasional (Thadinkyut and Deepavali)

    Option

    • One should be aware of “opt-in” versus “opt-out” options.
    • Many do not read “fine print”.
  • Sayadaw ဆရာတော်

    Sayadaw ဆရာတော်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Usage

    Mahasi & Mingun
    • Senior monk or the Chief resident monk of a monastery. Often used together with “U”. e.g Sayadaw U Sobhana
    • A distinguished sayadaw may be referred to as Sayadawgyi as a sign of reverence.
    • The terms “sayadaw” and “sayadawgyi” originally corresponded to the senior monks who taught the former Burmese kings. They may be influential teachers of the Buddhist Dhamma and also outstanding meditation practitioners. They usually are Abbots of monasteries or monastery networks with a large number of resident monks and a lay following.

    Honorific Terms

    • Several honorific terms exist for Buddhist monks, reflecting their achievements and number of Vassa spent.
    • The given name is extended with Prefixes, Suffixes and Titles

    Prefix

    • Achan (used in Thailand)
    • Ashin အသျှင်
    • Baddhanta ဘဒ္ဒန္တ
    • Bhikkhu ဘိက္ခူ
    • Maha Thera မဟာထေရ
    • Oo ဦး၊ ဥူး
    • Sayadaw ဆရာတော်
    • Sayadawgyi ဆရာတော်ကြီး
    • Shin ရှင်
    • Upazin ဥပဇင်း
    • Uzin ဦးဇင်း
    • U ဦး၊ ဥူး
    • Thera ထေရ
    • Venerable

    Suffix

    • [A]bhivamsa” အဘိဝံသ
      Pass “Set kyar thi ha Dhammacariya” examination before age 26
    • Lankara လင်္ကာရ
      Pass Lankara dhamma exam as a novice
    • Pa hta ma gyaw ပထမကျော်
      First in the “Pa hta Ma Pyan” examination
    • Thi ro ma ni သိရောမဏိ
      Finished 9 “kyans” in a single year
    • Wun tha ka ဝံသက
      First in the “Set kyar thi ha Dhammacariya” examination

    Title

    Some monks may highlight their accomplishments

    • Dhammacariya ဓမ္မာစရိယ
      Dhamma lecturer
    • Thamane Kyaw သာမဏေကျော်
      Stood first in the Lankara examination
    • Pali Paragu ပါဠိပါရဂူ
      Completed the examination in Pali
    • Agga Maha Pandita အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ
      Senior sage
    • Tipitaka Dara တိပိဋကဓရ
      Completed Three Baskets — “Vinaya”, “Sutta”, and “Abhidhamma”
    • Dwee Pitaka Dara ဒွိပိဋကဓရ
      Completed Two Baskets
    • [informal] “Ta Pone Saung” တပုံဆောင်
      Completed One Basket
    • [informal] “Hna Pone Khwair Saung” နှစ်ပုံခွဲဆောင်
      Completed “Vinaya”, “Sutta” and the first part of “Abhidhamma”

    U Vicittasarahhivamsa

    A monk may be addressed by

    • his given Dhamma name
      e.g. U Vicittasara
    • a qualified name,
      e.g. U Victtasarabhivamsa (with the suufix -abhivamsa)
    • by the name of his monastery
      e.g. Mingun Sayadaw
    • title
      e.g. Tipitakadara
    • and the combination
      e.g. Tipitakadara Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhimvamsa

    Venerable Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa, served as “Chief Respondent” at the Sixth Buddhist Council (1954 – 1956) in Yangon,

    He earlier passed the Tipitaka Examination with Distinctions in all subjects.

    The Guinness Book of World Records recognized his memory and the feat of reciting 8000+ pages of the Pali Canon.

    Thus, he could be addressed in several ways “

    • Mingun Sayadaw
      Reference to his home monastery at Mingun
    • U Vicittasara
      Name given at the Ordination
    • U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Passed the Mandalay Setkya Thiha examination before age 26
    • Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Chief Resident Monk
    • Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Chief Resident Monk of a monastery in Mingun
    • Tipitaka Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Passed Tipitaka examination
    • Tipitakadhara Dhammabhandakarika Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      First monk to be awarded the titles Tipitakadhara (“Bearer of the Tipitaka) and Dhammabhandakarika (“Treasurer of the Dhamma”).
  • Sayadaws — 2

    Sayadaws — 2

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Sixth Buddhist Council

    • မန္တလေး မစိုးရိမ် ဆရာတော် — ဥက္ကဌ
    • ရန်ကုန် ဗားကရာတရာတော် — အတွင်းရေးမှူး
    • မန္တလေး ဝိဇ္ဇာလင်္ကာရဆရာတော် — တွဲဖက်အတွင်းရေးမှူး
    • ရန်ကုန် သာသနာ့ရိပ်သာ မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် — အမေး
    • မင်းကွန်းဆရာတော် — အဖြေ
    Five Sayadaws

    Maha Thera Ledi Sayadaw U Nyana Daza

    • Prolific writer, an outstanding lecturer, and a teacher of teachers
    • Lay people in Burma were not known to teach Vipassana meditation
    • The Ledi tradition has a lineage of Vipassa teachers who are not ordained monks:
      Sayagyi U Thet,
      Sayagyi U Ba Khin,
      Sayagyi S. N. t

    Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw U Narada (1868 – 1955)

    • Credited as one of the major revivers of Vipassana meditation
    • Went to one Mingun Sayadaw, who presumably had studied meditation under Thee Gon Sayadaw, and asked for guidance.
      Was told to study Sattipattha (from the Scriptures) deeply and then practice meditation
    • Prominent disciples : Mahasi Sayadaw and Taung Pulu Sayadaw

    Sayadaw U Thittila (1896-1997)

    U Thittila
    • Did missionary work in UK
    • Came back to Burma and taught at the Pali Department for several years before continuing his missionary work abroad
    • Lectured in 25+ countries (including US, UK, France)
    • Ovadacariya to Sanagha Maya Nayaka, trustees of renowned pagodas
    • Outstanding teacher and writer
    • Played an important role in reviving Buddhism in India and propagating the study of Abhidhamma
    • Very modest; rarely talked about his many achievements
    • Patamagyaw scholar of all Burma (1918) : selected from among 5000 candidates
    • Panyattisasanahita (1923) : among the 4 out of 150 entrants who passed the toughest monastic examination
    • Studied Sanskrit in India; English in India and England
    • Translated Vibhanga (second of the seven Adbhidhamma texts) from Pali to English : published by the Pali Text Society in 1969 under the title of The Book of Analysis

    Mahagandaryone Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    Mahagandayone Sayadaw
    • Wrote several books in Pali and Burmese
    • Several of his students including Thamane Kyaw Sayadaw and U Hla Myint are teaching “Pali Sikkha (Training)” to lay persons without overwhelming with Pali Grammar

    Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana

    Sixth Buddhist Council
    Mahasi & Mingun Sayadaws
    Mahasi Sayadaw
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Served as Questioner at the Sixth Buddhist Council held at Kaba Aye, Rangoon, Burma
    • Chief Resident Monk of Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha
    • Mentees : Sayadaws U Pandita, U Kundala, U Janabhivamsa and many meditation teachers

    Panditarama Sayadaw U Pandita

    U Pandita
    • Senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadawgyi
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Succeeded Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana at Sasana Yeiktha
    • Established Panditarama

    Saddhamaransi Sayadaw U Kundala

    • Senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadawgyi
    • Outstanding meditation teacher
    • Made Dhamma Duta missions abroad (until his health forced him to stop going on long, tedious trips).
    • His biography (which covers to the age of 85) and his works can be found in http://www.saddhamaransi.org/

    Chanmyay Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    • Practiced vipassana meditation with the instruction of Mahasi Sayadawgyi in 1953-54
    • Served as Palipatiwisodhaka (editor of Pali scriptures) at the Sixth Buddhist Council.
    • Meditation teacher at the Sasana Yeiktha from 1967 – 1977.
    • Member of Mahasi Sayadaw’s Dhamma Dhuta Mission to Europe and US in 1978 – 80
    • Established the Chanmyay Yeiktha Buddhist Meditation Center in Myanmar
      chanmyay.org
      Branches in several countries (e.g. US, Singapore, Australia)

    Mingun Tipitaka Sayadaw Ashin Vicittathara

    Two Sayadaws at Sixth Buddhist Council
    • The Guinness Book of World Records listed Sayadaw as having an outstanding memory — the best at that time [in 1954].
    • Served as the Chief Reciter (a la Ashin Upali and Ashin Ananda at the First Buddhist Council) at the Sixth Buddhist Council held at KabaAye (World Peace) Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma from 1954 – 1956.
    • Could memorize, recall, and give exposition on 8027 pages of the Buddhist Scriptures known as Tipitaka [“Three Baskets”] :
      Vinaya – Rules of monastic conduct
      Sutta – Buddha’s discourses
      Abhidhamma – Ultimate reality)

    Mogok Sayadaw U Vimala (1899 – 1962)

    • Renowned Vipassana meditation master
    • 500 (or more) audio tapes of Sayadaw’s recordings have been transcribed into books (some e-books), and CDs
      Available at the Mogok Vipassana Meditation Centers
    • Featured in “Yahanda Hnit Poke Ko Htoo Myar” book by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing

    Dhammananda Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa

    • External examiner for the Pali Department
    • Rector of ITBMU
    • Chief Resident Monk of Dhammananda Vihara
    • Spiritual Advisor of several monasteries and meditation centers
    • Wrote books in Pali, Burmese and English
    • Served as Chief Compiler of the Tipitaka Pali-Myanmar Dictionary for the Sixth Buddhist Council.

    In April of 1979, Mahasi Sayadawgi made a Dhamma Duta mission to the US. At the request of the devotees, Sayadawgyi agreed to leave behind Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa and Sayadaw U Kelasa as “trail blazers” for the promulgation, preservation, and the promotion of Sasana.

    There were no Burmese Buddhist monasteries and/or temples, but the Sayadaws were determined to sacrifice their blissful lives back in their homeland to do whatever they can to do the Sasana work.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is taya-oo-2002-a.jpg
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is taya-oo-2002-b.jpg
  • Burma — Unsolved Mystery

    Burma — Unsolved Mystery

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    1949

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

    Memories

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

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

    66th anniversary of Myanmar’s tragic assassination

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

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

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

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

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

    Posts

    • ICS
    • Seven Siblings
    • The Empty Tomb
    • U Tin Tut
  • Texas Visit (May 17 – 19, 2019)

    Texas Visit (May 17 – 19, 2019)

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Plan

    • The trip was planned for May 8, 2019 to May 18, 2019
    • There were twists and turns

    Ad hoc mini-gathering

    Bo Nyo

    During a conversation, Lillian mentioned that Khin Mya Nyo (Bo Nyo) & Ronald (classmates of my spouse at IM1) came to her house to see San San Nwe (another IM1 classmate visiting from East Coast). My spouse was surprised and delighted to learn that her friends were living about 45 minutes drive.

    My spouse had met Bo Nyo a couple of times in the SF Bay Area : one for welcoming ASSK and the other at the wedding of the daughter of their classmates. At that time, Bo Nyo was living in New Mexico.

    Bo Nyo invited us (including Dr. Ba Han & Lillian) to enjoy hot pot at “Little Sheep” on the evening of May 17, 2019.

    May 17, 2019

    Bo Nyo

    Bo Nyo brought her aunt Daw Khin Nwe Aye (spouse of Sao Aung Myint @ John Khun Kyi). The small talk which reinforced the concept of “It’s a small world” took place from 6 PM to 9 PM. I learned that Saya Tony (Sao Kan Gyi, RIT English, GBNF) was Ma Nwe’s tutor when she was doing English Honors, and that he was a Best Man at her wedding.

    Sao Aung Myint & U Oo Thwin (Michael) were together in the USA when they came as State Scholars.

    Tet Toe (U Ohn Pe, Chief Editor of News Agency Burma) was Ma Nwe’s mentor at NAB. Min Kyaw Min was Ma Nwe’s colleague and later her boss. Ma Nwe and five others at NAB were forced to retire for their involvement in 8-8-88.

    We had to call it a day, since it was a 45-minute drive back to Dr. Ba Han’s house and we need to pack our belongings for the trip back home on May 18, 2019 (Full Moon day of Kason).

    May 18, 2019

    Despite the warnings of bad weather, we were lucky. Some heavy rains stopped before we visited a place. Others occurred after we left a place.

    To avoid bad weather, Dr. Ba Han decided to drop us early at the airport. But, we were not home free. Alerts sounded on our way to the air port. There was lightning, thunder and heavy rain on the way. It worsened after Dr. Ba Han dropped us at the terminal. He had to take shelter at a friend’s house for half an hour on the way back.

    Some time later, we boarded the plane bound for Denver. We were caught by surprise when the pilot announced that the test for the auto-pilot did not pass. Many passengers (including us) were worried that we might miss the connecting flight at Denver.

    Kan Soe Kan Kaung

    Kan Soe : the plane finally left DFW (Dallas – Fort Worth). The “Fasten seat belt” was on for the most part flying through turbulent weather. The plane arrived at Denver. We had missed the connecting flight. Worse still, there were no more flights that evening/night to SJC (San Jose). We had to stand in a long queue at the Customer Service.

    Kan Kaung : Since we missed our flight due to “mechanical failure”, the airline would provide a coupon for a hotel for the night. It would book us on the next available flight.

    Kan Soe : There were three flights to SJC on May 19, 2019, but they are all sold out. We would be put on a waiting list. In the worst case, we would fly out on May 20.

    Kan Kaung : We suggested flying to SFO instead of SJC (which is nearer to our home). The agent tried several times before she came up with a 6 AM flight to SFO for us.

    Kan Soe : The hotel coupon listed the address but not the name. Fortunately, one driver looked up the name (called “Mainstay Suites”) and told us to catch the appropriate shuttle. We took the shuttle to the hotel which is 9+ miles from the airport. Rain greeted us when we arrived at the compound of several hotels (including “Comfort Inn”, which is a sister hotel of “Mainstay Suites”. We had to walk in the rain to our hotel. Since it was late, the hotel would not accept the food coupon provided by the airline. We asked for a shuttle ride early next morning. To our surprise, most slots for the half-hourly shuttles were full. We booked the 3 AM shuttle.

    May 19, 2019

    Kan Soe : We had a short sleep.

    Kan Kaung : There were only three passengers in the 3 AM shuttle. One was a flight attendant for the Frontier airlines. He showed us the way at the terminal of the Denver airport. We had to wait before the shops opened, but they accepted the food coupons. We also received seats for “Premium Economy” (which required less time to board and unboard the plane).

    We arrived in California safe and sound.

    Miss an Event

    We had to forgo attending an event on May 19, 2019. Tathagata Meditation Center (San Jose) had celebrations for the Buddha’s Day (aka Thrice Blessed Day).

    Posts

    • Texas (May 8 – 10, 2019)
    • Texas (May 11 – 13, 2019)
    • Texas (May 14 – 16, 2019)
    • Texas (May 17 – 19, 2019)
  • Peter — Award

    Peter — Award

    by Hla Min

    Update : September 2026

    Peter Tun

    Dr. Peter Tun (Khin Tun, MRCP)

    • Associate Dean at Oxford University for four years.
    • Due to the lax rules and denial of his request for PPE at his Department, he became an early casualty of Covid-19.
    • Passed away on April 13, 2020. The day marked the beginning of Thingyan (Water Throwing Festival). In 2020, the day was “Easter Monday”.
    • He is Gone But Not Forgotten (GBNF).
    • I chronicled the period from early April to late May 2020.
      It covers news, photos, articles (from the UK Newspapers) and memories (by his family members, relatives, friends and colleagues).

    Award by Nuerology Academy

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is peter-award-1-1.jpg
    Peter Tun Award
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is peter-award-2-1.jpg
    Award 2

    Condolences

    From Dr. Johnny Kyaw Myint (SPHS60, Australia)

    Very proud of Peter that will be honored like this.

    From Dr Wilbert Ho (SPHS60, UK)

    • Hi Dexter, thanks for sharing the news about the Peter Tun Neurology Award.
    • I am very proud on behalf of his family and as a friend and fellow Myanmar. Best wishes, Wilbert.

    From U Thaung Lwin (Dexter, Peter’s uncle)

    Both Johnny and Wilbert are my class mates in St Paul’s since 5th standard.

    From Hussein Ariff

    • Dexter thank you very much for sharing.
    • May God rest his soul in eternal peace.
    • Amen.

    Memories

    • He is the eldest of three siblings.
    • His grandfather, father & Peter are the “First son”
    Peter 1
    Peter 2
    • Peter served Mezaligone & nearby villages as the Lone Doctor.
    Peter, Win Mar and elder son (Min Ko)
    • He made annual visits to his parents. He and his mom are January born. They perform Birthday Dana together.
    • He invited us to Min Ko’s Engagement Party at Winner Inn and follow-up at their parents’ home
    Peter 3
    • U Tin Htoon sent a Photo Card. He later compiled a Photo Album for Peter.
    Photo Card for Peter

    Updates

    • Peter’s name was read in the song by “London Symphony”
    • Peter was nominated for a Posthumous FRCP
    • Min Ko (Peter’s elder son) was “First son (for the 4th Generation)” in his family. He has two daughters. Not sure if another “First son (for the 5th Generation)” will appear.