RIT Community

RIT Alumni International Newsletter was started in April 1999. Served as Chief Editor. In the early days, many RIT sayas and alumni provided articles, news & photos.

RIT website

U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, EC76) designed & implemented ex-rit.org website.
I served as Editor and Content Provider of the website.
Several hundred accessed the first RIT website.
The website played an important part for planning and implementing First RIT Grand Reunion & Saya Pu Zaw Pwe (SPZP-2000) held in San Francisco, California, USA in October 2000.
Some traveled from Burma, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Australia & New Zealand to attend SPZP-2000.

Able to share news — good, sad and bad.
Jara and Byadi have caused a decline in health of sayas and alumni. Marana has claimed the lives of several especially during the pandemic.
Some sayas and alumni are Gone But Not Forgotten. The GBNF list for 69ers has 137 members.

With the event of social media, the number of RIT related pages grew. There are many silent readers and few active contributors.

Being a messenger is not easy.
When an alumni asked me to relay the demise of U Ne Win Myint (Victor Win, ChE66), I double checked before posting the news. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Even then, someone who is near & dear to Jean (Mrs. Victor) claimed that Ko Victor was hospitalized, but had not passed away. The claim confused some alumni before the sad news was confirmed & details of the last journey were published.

When Dr. Tin Hlaing, former Principal of Maritime Studies, passed away in Singapore, an alumni posted Condolence message in the Facebook pages to the family of Saya Dr. Tin Hlaing (M63). Saya became a Tone Kyaw.

There are fact checking websites. They have reports about Urban Myths & Legends.

Some sayas & alumni want privacy. They do not want news of their visits or failing health to be relayed. We have to respect their concerns.
There are many posts by sayas, alumni & friends. The posts may be public, restricted or private. We have to be careful before sharing or re-posting them.
Most people do not have the time & energy to read long posts. A post should have an interesting & informative message.
As my mentors said, “The message is usually much more important than the messenger.”