by Hla Min
Updated : June 2025
April 5, 2007
Arrival and Accommodation
Arrived in Singapore 15 minutes later than the ETA.
Ko Nyan Win Shwe, Saya U Aung, Ko San Win, Ko Khin Latt, Ko Zaw Win Htut and Ko Tin Aung Win (TAW) were waiting for the “Three Musketeers” — Saya Allen Htay, Ko Benny Tan, and me.
Saya and Ko Benny were taken to the Bay View Hotel, which is close to the three hotels where the sayas and sayamas from Myanmar who had arrived earlier on April 4, 2007.
Thanks to Ko TAW (C81, UCC) for giving me his younger son’s room and his laptop, for proving me home-cooked food, and for driving me to the various gatherings and the main events.
Electrical Engg Gathering
Attended EE gathering. Organizers include Ma San San Mya (’72), Ko Kyaw Swa (’96, emcee), Ko Aung Mon (’96), …
Sayas led by U Myo Kyi, Dr. Christopher Lee (L. Tin Tun), U Soe Paing, U Moe Aung, Dr. Win Tin, U Ba Myint, U Khine Oo, U Tin Maung Thein, U Tin Shwe, U Kyaw Lwin, Daw Mya Mya Than, U Than Lwin … attended the gathering.
Many sayas gave speeches: brief self-intro, walks down memory lane, and thanks to the organizers.
April 6, 2007
Civil Engg Gathering
Attended as “Ah htoo ei the daw” [အထူးဧည့်သည်တော် guest] the Civil Engg gathering organized by Saya U Aung, Saya Dr.Soe Thein, …, Ko Aung Kyaw Myint (’96, “Ko Ba Kyaw” of Swe Daw Yeik fame, emcee), …
Sayas led by Dr. Aung Gyi, U Min Wun, Dr. Win Thein, Dr. Aung Soe, U Allen Htay, U Thein Tan, U Khin Maung Phone Ko, Saw Christopher Maung, U Tin Maung, U Nyi Hla Nge, Dr. Htin Aung, Dr, Khin Maung Win, U Hla Myint Thein, U Khin Maung Tint, Dr. Myo Khin, U Khin Maung Maung, Dr. Soe Thein, Daw Swan Tee, ….
Welcome Dinner
Attended the “welcome dinner” at Yunan corner. Food was provided by a local Myanmar restaurant and some imported specialties: Kauk hnyin kyi tauk.
Almost all the visiting sayas, sayamas and their families attended. Saya U Ba Toke, 87 years young led the sayas.
Met the core organizers of SPZP 2007. Had a meeting with the sayas and the representatives from the alumni groups to decide on the time and venue for the next SPZP.
April 7, 2007
The two main events of the Fourth RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP took place.
Morning event at BBT
Three rounds of Saya Ga Daw Pwe at the Burmese Buddhist Temple (BBT) :
- senior sayas who graduated before ’65
- sayas who graduated before ’75
- sayas who graduated after ’75
Saya U Ba Toke, Saya U Min Wun, and Saya U Thar Hlaing gave “ovadha ဩဝါဒ and blessings for the attendees.
Ko Tin Maung Win (EP71) posted Part 1 of the event on “YouTube” and requested us (me and the various webmasters and/or moderators of the RIT-related web sites) to announce the link so that the sayas, sayamas, alums and well-wishers who could not attend SPZP 2007 can share the experiences.
Three Tin Maung Wins worked for the same company in Singapore. They are formally differentiated by using their major/discipline and/or year of graduation. Two of them are known as “Ah Phyu အဖြူ TMW” and “Ah Me အမဲ TMW” (who prefers to be called instead “Ah Nyo အညို TMW” or as the hubby of “Model” (Mai Daw မယ်တော် singer and dancer Moe Moe Yi.
Evening event at OCC
Orchid Country Club (OCC) is one of the few places in Singapore that can host events with 800+ attendees. According to Ko Nyan Win Shwe, 840 attended the Reunion dinner.
There were long queues at the registration table. Young volunteers gave out badges, “Swe Daw Yeik Sar Saung စွယ်တော်ရိပ်စာစောင်” and a door gift to every attendee. The invited sayas and sayamas were given additional gifts.
Some scheduled speeches were canceled or shortened (from 5 to 3 minutes). There was ample entertainment from the Singapore and Myanmar groups while the 10-course dinner was being served.
There were two rounds of “appreciation to the Golden Sponsors” (for a complete list see the SPZP 2007 web site). Ko Benny and I were requested to accept the “appreciation awards” on behalf of the sponsors who could not attend SPZP 2007.
Ko Myint San (“Tet Lu တက်လူ”) showed his expertise with the dobat, pattala, and “Chit Dukkha” song, Ko Yu Swan entertained with “Don min” and Shwe Zin Ma played the saung and also played in the pyazat directed by Ko Aung Kyaw Myint (“Ba Kyaw ဘကျော်”).
Ko Tet Lu and Ko Ba Kyaw had complete confidence in the next generation of “Lu shwin daws လူရွှင်တော်များ led by Ko Awba ဩဘာ
The Swel Daw Yeik Ah Nyeint စွယ်တော်ရိပ်အငြိမ့် also featured Khine Nay Nwe Lwin, Aye Thaw Kyawt, Awba, Pulley, Chainthee, and Diode.
The program, originally scheduled to end at 11:45 p.m., ended almost an hour later. This was due in part to pay back to the people who had shown appreciation by “rewarding” them.
The program ended with a special song written by Ko Ba Kyaw and with a big crowd on the podium.
HlaMin 