By Myint Zan
THE 6th of January 2025 is the 85th anniversary of the passing of P Moe Nin (5 November 1883-6 January 1940) on 6 January 1940. For the historical record, this writer will briefly narrate the unfortunate circumstances of his passing as narrated by contemporaneous newspaper reports of January 1940. (The writer thanks the library staff of the Universities Central Library, Yangon for sending me the cuttings of newspaper reports of P Moe Nin’s passing.)
19th National Day Lunch at Myanma Alin Press and its aftermath
On or around 15th December 1939 P Moe Nin at the invitation of then Myanma Alin Press visited their offices. They have invited Sayagyi P Monin for lunch at their office and awarded him an honorarium of twenty rupees. U Hein Soon (who was later to become a famous cartoonist) in an article published on 12 January 1940 narrated that at the request of the Myanma Alin editorial board, he fetched P Moe Nin at his house on 126th Street, Rangoon. U Hein Soon (hereafter HS) wrote that almost ominously he felt a certain reluctance to fetch his Sayagyi and walked to and fro for about 20 minutes in his house before deciding to fetch P Moe Nin at his residence and take him to the Myanma Alin office. P Moe Nin and HS took a ‘trolley’ and alighted at the corner of Merchant Street and Sule Pagoda Road. They walked to the Myanma Alin office. HS narrated that P Moe Nin expressed satisfaction that he would be getting a 20 rupees honorarium because he was behind in his house rent. HS mentioned that P Moe Nin said he intended to write an article about World War I (1914-1918) and the winds of World War II which in December 1939 was already blowing in Europe but at that time not yet reached colonial Burma. He stated that during WWI the then German leader Kaiser’s moustache was ‘curly’ but in the early days of WWII ‘dictator’ Hitler had a short moustache! HS wrote that P Moe Nin ate Danbauk lunch. When HS had to go on an errand out of the Myanma Alin office for a while he asked P Moe Nin not to go anywhere and stayed where he was during his absence. When he came back, sadly, HS learned that his Sayagyi was hit by a bicycle when he went out of the newspaper office. P Moe Nin went to the restroom (toilet) which was outside of the Office and was hit by a bicycle. When HS fetched P Moe Nin from his house, he told Sayagadaw (Mrs P Moe Nin) that he would bring Sayagyi home (safely). That, alas, was not to be.
Until a few months ago this writer was under the impression that Sayagyi P Moe Nin passed away after he was hit by a bicycle on his way to attend the 19th anniversary of the National Day. From the article by HS, it was not that P Moe Nin was hit on the way to the newspaper office. After having his lunch and honorarium he went out supposedly to go to the restroom. (Query is the restroom outside the building? Did one have to go out and cross the street to go to the restroom?) As a result of the cycle accident P Moe Nin was hospitalized and complications set in. Articles written at the time of his death stated that sometime before his unfortunate accident and hospitalization he had ischemia (လေငန်းရောဂါ) and also diabetes. The articles written by other literati such as Mya Myo Lwin (November 1902- 11 September 1970) and the writer Thinkhar immediately after P Moe Nin’s demise stated that doctors were of the opinion that he might have to stay in the hospital for a few months. In addition, after his discharge, he would have, at a minimum, used a crutch for the rest of his life. But death intervened and on 12 January 1940 the great writer, pioneer Burmese psychologist (in the non-clinical sense of the word), self-help manuals writer, novelist, short-story writer, political treatise writer and educator’s funeral was held at Rangoon’s Kyandaw cemetery. It was a grand funeral attended by many eminent literati.
A Variegated life and life-experiences of P Moe Nin
P Moe Nin’s life and life experiences had been variegated. Among others, he had been a teacher at a Roman Catholic school, a pastor, an opium clerk (later it was said that while experimenting with opium he temporarily became addicted to it) seller of traditional medicines, film script-writer, author of political treatise and self-help books, at least one book on what can be described as sexology (ကာမသိဒ္ဓိကျမ်း), short stories, novellas and novels and an autobiography (the book P Moe Nin ei P Moe Nin).
In the above section, I wrote that Sayagyi P Moe Nin was also, in the Burmese context, a pioneer ‘psychologist’ (in the non-clinical sense of the word). Perhaps it may be more appropriate to describe P Moe Nin as the author of self-help and self-improvement books. His self-help books contain, and utilize mainly Western psychological theories extant in the early 20th century. Through his books, P Moe Min educated the general public about improving their lives and livelihoods.
Talking about livelihood P Moe Nin also wrote a book or booklet about the subject of home economics so to speak. From this writer’s recall, it is a primer on how to save and spend in one’s household. Yet it is anomalous, it is ironic, indeed it is sad that this prolific writer was if not financially poor most of his life he was definitely not well-to-do. When he did gain some monies, it was said, that P Moe Nin misspent it on drinks, drugs (opium), gambling and pursuit of other ‘pleasures’. The fact of his poor financial status till the end of his life is indicated by U Hein Soon that he was pleased to get a 20 rupees honorarium for it would cover his rent payment in his last days.
Dale Carnegie (24 November 1888-1 November 1955) was a younger American contemporary who wrote self-improvement, public speaking and salesmanship books. P Moe Nin could have read some of Carnegie’s books. I am not sure whether P Moe Nin has translated or referred to any of Carnegies’ books in his writings. Was Carnegie financially as poor as P Moe Nin. Certainly not!
How about another American author Napoleon Hill (26 October 1883-8 November 1970) whose 1937 book Think and Grow Rich sold millions? Was Napoleon Hill financially as poor as P Moe Nin? Again, certainly not. Napoleon Hill was an older contemporary by just 10 days of P Moe Nin but outlived him by more than 30 years.
What force of circumstances or perhaps partly (only) P Moe Nin’s doings makes this eminent author to be financially poor? To paraphrase Shakespeare in Julius Caesar: Is the fault in the stars or (partly) in himself that P Moe Nin lived most of his life financially poor?
A few pithy statements in one of P Moe Nin’s self-help books
Several decades ago, I read one of P Moe Nin’s self-help books (in contemporary parlance တက်ကျမ်း). I think the title of the book is Aung Seit (‘A Triumphant Mind’), After all these decades I still recall three remarkable statements that P Moe Nin made.
‘Don’t be afraid of being called “your body is in the bush but your mind is in high heaven”. If your mind is not in high heaven, you will never get out of the bush’! (Lunay choan gyar seik nay boan phyar hu pwaw khan ya myi go mo soe yein hnin seik thi boan phyar hnike ma shi ga lu thi choan gyar hma bei akhar hma htwet taut myi ma hoke pae)
‘The saying that although one has brains (knowledge) if one’s luck or kamma is lacking one can still be poor is completely wrong’. (kan ma shi nyan shi daing mwei hso thore zagar thi loon zwar hmar ei) (Addendum: P Monin had all the brains -knowledge- but his luck was not that good albeit he was a very successful writer?)
One should not fear death. In the end, there is no greater change than being dead. (thay ya myi go ma kyauk ahsone hnike thay thaw aya htet kyee thaw pyaung lae chinn this ma shi daut chay.)
The literary legacy of P Moe Nin lives on
There is in the current Myanmar Sar Text for Grade XI an essay by P Moe Nin. Also, in the Grade XII Myanmar Sar text there is a short story written by him.
I write this narration and appreciation almost to the day on the 85th anniversary of P Moe Nin’s passing on 6 January 1940 and his funeral on 12 January 1940. The literary legacy of P Moe Nin lives on.
