Dear Sayas and Colleagues,

In the beginning, there were no women engineers. By the time Saya Allen Htay graduated in 1958, there were a few female engineering students. One of them, Ma Julie, joined the Textile Department as a faculty member. Ma Magaret [aka Mrs. Khin Maung Win], Ma Amy Thwin were later followed by Ma Dolly Thwin and numerous other female engineers.

Nearly every Engineering department now has female professors and/or lecturers. That's the good sign of the changing times.

There are several female Sayamas and alum attending the Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe. There are female alums in the Organizing Committee.

Contrary to what many people believed I do not come directly to RIT from an exclusive "all boys' club". I attended the co-ed primary school till my third grade. My parents want me to join SPHS before my elder brother matriculated. I also attended the last ever I.Sc.(A) under the "old" education system. Before the ILA system, people can study what they want.

Before my time, RUBC was an all-male club. The Executive Committee, in which I served as Treasurer, voted to allow females to join RUBC. As Ko Ba Thein mentioned, the female crocs later gained Greens and Golds.

I have tried not to make the "Count Down" series a [semi] autobiography. When people asked me how I learned English, I recounted the quotations from the period when there was no such thing as "politically correct", "affirmative action", ... It was taboo to say "four letter" words. Doesn't LOVE and WORK have four letters, too?

I do not write to earn respect or disrespect. It's OK to have your view as long as you are tolerant of other people's views. As Dhammika Saya U Hla Thein explained, "Four people sat at the table. They looked at a letter. One said, 'Ka gyi'. The second said, 'Ya Pa let". The third said, 'Da dway'. The fourth said, 'Nga that'. Who's right?" In the true impartial world, everyone of them is right.

In the real world, people have egos and -isms, so if "You do not see my point of view, you're probably wrong."

It is said that of the twelve lepers that Jesus Christ cured, only one said, "Thank you". If one out of ten readers appreciate my burning the midnight oil [see the time stamps of some of my e-mails], I feel justified. After the RIT Reunion and SPZP, I'll willing to step down as Editor of the RIT Alumni International. The organization should be process-driven and not individual-driven.

I believe in non-violence. The following is what I wrote in honor of the Centennial for the "Apsotle of Non-violence".

          ==================
          The Great Gandhiji
          ==================

          A man of true principle
          With spirit invincible
          He sacrified his pleasures
          Faith and freedom were his treasures.

          No arms did he carry
          No threats made him tarry
          No torture nor prison
          Could change his decision

          He led all protests
          Despite threats and arrests
          All races and creeds
          Revered his deeds

          He did not see his dreams come true
          The whole world grieves his loss too
          He cared not for FAME
          But his name will indeed remain
          In history, O Great Gandhiji

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Objection! You've gone too far
You are no longer impartial and sensitive
by Ni Ni
===============================

Dear U Hla Min,

Let me object your writing with my utmost respect. Your otherwise good image has been tainted by the following which you wrote in Count down to the Reunion (37).

You wrote:,* I should have remembered what my cousin learnt [eons ago] from his teacher:

          An essay should be like a lady's skirt
            long enough to cover the subject
            yet short enough to be entertaining.

Don't say I'm anti-feminist ...*

I objected it seriously. I know it only too well that RIT is a men´s world. However, if we are to make a better world, men and women together, for the sake of successive generations, WE should keep 24 hour meditation on what we think, say and do. We should be the role models for them with our thoughts, words and deeds.

The Count down to the Reunion series have already given me a good impression about/of you as an editor. It was now stuck at No.(37). What made you to make that remark, may I ask? Just over joy? I do hope that my e-mail could bring your awareness and bring you back to the being whom I know of so far. U Hla Min: the man of talent and sensitivity.

*I am not a feminist. Ni Ni is an ANTI feminist on the record.*

My objection doesn't originated from the feminist theology. If you would kindly publish this e-mail as a viewer´s comment in the next issue, I would be most grateful.

I am, in fact, making a campaign against harmful Burmese sayings which can disturb/divide the unity of our Nation/society/community. For example, ´mway pway ne rakhin, rakhine a yin that´. Meaning, if you see a snake and a Rakhine, kill the Rakhine first. Another is ´Chin let pattamya yaut´. Meaning ´Ruby is in the hand of Chin who doesn´t know the value of it´. There are so many sayings we should consciously try to avoid.

There is also one which has been used to put down our fellow Burmese-Chinese (Chinese people who are born and raised in Burma). They say ´Ta yoke pauk phaw, dote kauk ne saw´. Meaning beat the Chinese with the walking stick.

I hope my comments are useful and constructive as a *viewer´s comment*.

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Most people know two-valued logic: True/False, Yes/No, ... Yet, there is three-valued logic: Yes/No/Maybe, .. and even multi-valued logic.

With metta,
Hla Min