dear stan,
many burmese in the presnt day Burma generally thought that i was the
first burman to write about sex education in burmese.syagyi dr u ba
than writes in his preface to my book "Theik-pan Nee-kya Ein-htaung-
the-bawa" that i was the first burman to do so and therefore so
courageous to write the taboo subjcet.my book came out in 1970.since
then, many editions have been published.the late writer yangon ba swe
commended that my book filled the need of the burmans in sex
education and should be read by all and that it had been published 4
times within a year with a circulation of over 10,000 or so.
as a matter of fact, i was not the first burman to write about sex
education in burma.dr hla shwe, th younger brother of bo let ya, the
senior member of the famed "Thirty Comrades for Independence" and
sometime the deputy prime minister and defence minister in u nu's
government, was the first to write and publish a comprehensive book
on sex education in burmese.his book was entitled "Husband and Wife
Wedded Forever (Za-nee Maung-hnan Yathek-pan).I first read it when i
was at the University of Rangoon in 1955. it
was so unusual for a
burmese book to discuss openly about the anatomy and physiology of
reproductive organs, their parts in love-making and marrige. it was
written in question and answer format and it was very concise and
clear.dr hla shwe acknowledged in the book that his book was based on
the "A Marriage Manual" written by dr abraham stone and his wife.
then in 1959, dr myint soe, head of the preventive and social
medicine department at IM1 taught us about the problems of marriage,
childhood and juvenile delinquency. he presribed dr stones' book as a
reference.i bought dr stones' book and also found dr hla shwe's
burmese adaptation.i liked both books and i used to present the
burmese book to all my burmese friends who were getting married.they
told me the book was informative, but a bit difficult to understand.
so, after studying in london, uk, for about three and half years
during which i have read alot about sex education includng the famous
book " The Human Sexual Response" by masters and johnson, i ventured
to write my first sex education book to make the subjcet more
undretstandable and up to date noy to supplant dr hla shwe's but to
complement it.however, people preferred my book as it contained
illustrations and it was written in pure, plain burmese used by the
nayathas and it was prefaced by sayagyi u ba than and dr shwe tin,
professor of obstetrics and gyanaecology at IM2.dr hla shwe's
children, dr tha hla shwe and dr mi hla shwe( is her name right?)
revised their father's book later, but the classicness of the book
was thereby destroyed.
dr hla shwe was a unique person.he came from a well-to-do family in
pyapon, had politically active brothers and was himself the president
of the rangoon university student union and also of the all burma
federation of the student unions.he went to magwe to support the oil
workerrs strike against the BOC.he proclaimed," if the british
colonialists used the mounted police against the workers' strike and
students we'll burn down all the colonial establishments." his
speeches were full of zest,patrotism and authority. no wonder his
commands were folloed to the letter by the people, hence he was known
as the"Dictator (arnar_ahin) hla shwe."
he was at that time a medical student.he was liked by many
students,workers and the people.after the BOC workres' strike , he
was again requested to lead the student unions, but he refused due to
his heavy demands for study.brigadier maung maung wrote that dr hla
shwe's place was taken over by thakhin ba hein, the second most
important leader in the Communist Party of Burma, a colleague of
general aung san and thakhin than tun.he later died at mandalay
general hospital just after the WW II,in 1946 or 1947.
dr hla shwe graduated MBBS a few years before the japanese
occupation and worked under sayagyi u ba than at the rangoon gneral
hospital.he was clandestinely involved with the anti-japanese
resistance during the japanese occupation.general ne win publicly
acknowedged in the late 1980s that dr hla shwe hid the antijapnese
burmese troops at RGH and was a leader in the anti-japanese
movement.he wrote the "Marrige Manual" in burmese in those hectic
days!
dr hla shwe was married t dw khin yi, a techer training college
student from sandowy (Than_Dwe)before the second world war and they
had three children. i know their eldest son, dr tha hla shwe
intimately.he worked with me at IM 2 for a long time and we were
together in london for some time.we also lived in the same student
hostel as honorary warden and executive warden respectively.i met daw
khin yi at dr thar hla shwe 's house when she visited her son after
the WW II.yes, dr hla shwe died in a plane crash on his way to
london,uk, for further study to b come a FRCS after he WW II.
dr tha hla shwe and his younger sister became medical doctors.the
youngest son was active in politics like his father and frequently
questioned by the police.he lived in bogale, pyapon district.but dr
tha hla shwe is completely apoltical and a completely quiet man.his
uncle u mya hlaing, chief editor of the now defunct
magazine "Pay_Phoo_Hlwa (The Scrool)" complained that his nephew was
not taking the family tradition.
any way, i always pay tribute to "Dictator" hla shwe for writing
such a needed book on sex education so early in his career and so
early in the modern burmese era.
may he live in a thu-ga-ti bon, a higher plane of existence.
dr maung maung nyo
MBBS March 1961 UOR