Thein Pe Myint - The Sea Traveler and Pearl Devi

When I arrived in Myeik for the 1967 Sasodaw Day, I also did something else. I was invited to the hotel where I was staying by a member of the Burmese Association, Mr. and Mrs.

The old monks were invited to inquire about the history of the Myeik To Burmese Association. A large number of old monks and nuns attended. However, the monk Ma Mya Thway, whom I had met in 1954, is no longer there, and Daw Mya Thway has passed away. The monk Ohn Nyunt (Ryung Nyaung Sapat Distributing), who I have been in regular contact with, is still healthy and the most active of the old monks and nuns who have come. In fact, he had arranged the meeting.

Among them was an old man I had never met before. He was not as old as Thakin Thein Maung Gyi, the former chairman of the Burma Association. He was over 60 years old, but he was still strong and vigorous.

It is sturdy and strong. It does not bend its back or bend its ears.

His name is Thakin Ngwe Aung.

After the meeting with the old lords and mistresses, Lord Ngwe Aung invited me to come to his house at a convenient time and have some tea.

Because of this, I had to go to his house alone without any of the Myeik Sasotaw Day committee members. His house was an old building with a brick wall and a large iron gate. It was obvious that he had once been a wealthy man.

In the wealthy neighborhood of Min Soe, Myeik, there is a pearl house called PEARLHOUSE. The pearl house was built by U Shwe Mya, also known as Bai Ahar Mak. U Shwe Mya became a pearl merchant who obtained a license to work in the pearl industry and became wealthy by catching pearls. U Shwe Mya's relatives still live in Myeik today, but they are not well known.

Thakin Ngwe Aung had worked under U Shwe Mya, also known as Bai Ahamed. He was not a Muslim like U Shwe Mya. He had converted. He renounced Islam, married a Buddhist wife, and became a Buddhist himself. He had separated from U Shwe Mya before the war and had been engaged in pearling and fishing. When the Burmese Union emerged, he supported the Thakin. When the Thakin himself traveled to Myeik, a reception committee was formed, and he was the treasurer. During the 1900 uprising, he and his workers participated in the demonstrations of popular will. When the war broke out and the BIA led by General Yan Naing and Thakin Htun Sein and the Burmese independence movements emerged, he warmly welcomed them. He supported the fascist revolution led by General Aung San and the Federalist Party of Burma with both men and money. After the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma and the rise of the Communist Party of Burma, Thakin Ngwe Aung did not participate in politics and only worked in business. However, he had good relations with all politicians. His pearl and fishing business had grown greatly. During the era of joint ventures, he expanded his business by entering into joint ventures with Chinese tycoons from Singapore and Japanese companies. However, he did not accept joint ventures for long. He had stopped joint ventures with foreigners even before the revolutionary government came to power. He had left behind a large fishing boat and two large boats, including many production equipment. He had obtained many very valuable pearls, and it is said that the foreign partners were happy to accept the dissolution of the joint venture and divide the pearls as their share.

After the revolutionary government came to power in 1964, he greedily sold off the entire pearling and fishing business, with the exception of a large fishing boat and a large boat, along with equipment and cash balances, to his business partners and workers.

After telling me about those things, Thakin Ngwe Aung said...

“I am old. It is good to kill greed, but it is impossible not to kill greed. This government is a real government, there is no way for private businesses to get ahead. So I will just sit and eat with what I have,” he explained.

I am …

"You're just saying you won."

Lord Ngwe Aung smiled…

"Heh... I guess you could say heh. I like the way this government handles foreign businessmen."

Although Thakin Ngwe Aung offered me green tea, he served me a variety of teas, as is the custom of the people of Myeik. It was a bit like the green tea that you pay for one hundred or one hundred and fifty kyats at the Pyidawthar Hotel in Myeik.

Thakin Ngwe Aung explained why he invited me and treated me with such a tea party, and why he respected me. When he was young, he used to have fun and flirt with women as much as he could. Even though he was sick, he was not afraid or thought about it. After reading the book "The Evil Spirit of the Modern Age" that I wrote, he gained wisdom and was completely free from women's evil. He thought about it well. Therefore, he was always grateful to me.

When I told him that I had a dream of going to the distant islands and the open seas of the Myeik archipelago, Thakin Ngwe Aung assured me that he would send me with his big boat or a fishing boat, as I wished. When I said that I could not go yet, he promised that if I wanted to, he would send his big boat or a boat to me at any time.

So when I found a ship that could take me around the Myeik Islands and the Andaman Sea, I was happy that I would be able to make a one-day sea voyage. However, after returning to Yangon from Myeik, I found other interesting things, so I did not do anything to make a sea voyage.

Thus, in March 1968, a major research conference was held. As mentioned above, I heard Lieutenant Colonel Khin Maung Myint (Sea) give a speech on oceanography and became very interested in oceanographic research.

Therefore, I decided that the ocean voyage I was planning would be an oceanographic research voyage. Then, I began to prepare for it by writing that I would soon receive the ship that my father, Thakin Ngwe Aung, had promised, and by finding and organizing the researchers who would accompany me on the oceanographic research voyage.

It would be convenient for university teachers and students to travel during this time as schools are closed, but the weather would not be favorable. After mid-April and the start of the Myanmar New Year, strong winds could blow and the sea could be rough. Therefore, the sea voyage is expected to take place in November and December.