My memory of him is somewhat vague. He was small and thin, considered a bright student at Grade 8, 1963-64 academic year, the only year we were together.

He was from a military family and came to school together with other students whose parents were also serving in the Army.

We weren’t exactly close friends though we were on friendly terms with each other. Not that I had any special feelings against people with close connections to the military, that had seized power in 1962 and jailed several Shan politicians and activists, among whom was my own elder brother. (I was 15 at that time.)

In fact, I still fondly remember Ye Myint, who was also a son of an officer from 222nd Supply and Transport Battalion, based in Shwenyaung, 7 miles west of Taunggyi. We had studied together at Grade 9 and 10, after I had moved from Government High School (GHS) #1 to GHS #2. Like Tin Aung Myint Oo, he entered the Defense Services Academy (DSA) after finishing Grade 10.

Naturally, when reports came that one Ye Myint had become a regional army commander and another Military Affairs Security (MAS) chief, I had immediately looked for their photos and tried to figure which one was my Ye Myint. Neither was, to my disappointment.

With Tin Aung Myint Oo, however, my memories are vague. So I had to ask another former classmate, Sao Ood Kehsi aka Sao Naw Kham Oo, Chief of Alliance Affairs, Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), who had remained at GHS #1 after I left it in the 1964-65 academic year.

According to Sao Ood, Tin Aung Myint Oo was not only shy but rather quiet. He wouldn’t take offense if he was teased. “As he was small even for his age, we used to call him affectionately Cha Take (kid),” he remembers.

His friends were proud of him when he was chosen to attend the DSA. That didn’t stop them from teasing him one way or the other.

“Don’t worry if you were sent to the front,” Khin Maung Myint told him. “We have at home a huge flower garden and a bamboo grove to make plenty of wreaths for you.”

Sao Ood, a born prankster, was not to be sidelined by Khin Maung Myint. “I’m really concerned about the safety of the nation when people like you become defenders for us,” he said. “Why, you can’t even defend yourself from being blown away by the wind, let alone defending the country.”

Despite friendly jibes, Tin Aung Myint Oo survived the wars to win himself a Thiha Thura (Brave Lion) medal of valor and has even managed to gone to the head of his class by being chosen as Vice President #1 last March.

He also married his childhood girlfriend Khin Saw Hnin, from Taunggyi’s Haw Gone quarter. “Her grandmother was a Shan from Hopong (12 miles southeast of Taunggyi),” Sao Ood said.

Tin Aung Myint Oo certainly has come a long way, from a mild mannered cha take into a “jungleman”, according to former Military Intelligence Service officer Aung Lynn Tut, and one of the most corrupted, according to several sources. “You can never recognize him anymore,” the friend from Taunggyi had complained.

Indeed, you can’t expect a person not to change.

When I was young, I had considered myself a Burman, liked to wear longyis rather than pants and wrote a number of Burmese songs sung by Hsai Mao and Hti Hseng. Many who knew me were said to have been surprised, when I joined the Shan armed resistance to fight against the military regime.

Without doubt, I have come a long way too.

However, I still hope neither of us is too old to change for the better, both for ourselves and the people.