# Myanmar Standard Time

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**Myanmar Standard Time** (Burmese: *မြန်မာ စံတော်ချိန်*, mjəmà sàɰ̃dɔ̀dʑèiɰ̃), formerly **Burma Standard Time** (**BST**), is the [standard time](/source/Standard_time) in [Myanmar](/source/Myanmar), 6.5 hours ahead of [UTC](/source/Coordinated_Universal_Time). Myanmar Standard Time (MMT) is calculated on the basis of 97°30′E [longitude](/source/Longitude).[1] MMT is used all year round, as Myanmar has never observed [daylight saving time](/source/Daylight_saving_time).[2][3]

## History

### Pre-colonial period

Myanmar did not have a standard time before the [British colonial period](/source/British_rule_in_Burma). Each region kept its own [local mean time](/source/Local_mean_time), according to the [Burmese calendar](/source/Burmese_calendar) rules: sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight.[note 1] The day was divided into eight 3-hour segments called *baho* (ဗဟို), or sixty 24-minute segments called *nayi* (နာရီ). Although the calendar consists of time units down to the millisecond level, the popular usage never extended beyond *baho* and at most *nayi* measurements; a gong was struck every *nayi* while a drum (စည်) and a large bell (ခေါင်းလောင်း) were struck to mark every *baho*.[4]

Type Time Burmese name Description Day 1 o'clock နံနက် တစ်ချက်တီး midway between sunrise and midday 2 o'clock နေ့ နှစ်ချက်တီး noon (midday) 3 o'clock နေ့ သုံးချက်တီး midway between noon and sunset 4 o'clock နေ့ လေးချက်တီး sunset Night 1 o'clock ည တစ်ချက်တီး midway between sunset and midnight 2 o'clock ည နှစ်ချက်တီး midnight 3 o'clock ည သုံးချက်တီး midway between midnight and sunrise 4 o'clock နံနက် လေးချက်တီး sunrise

### Colonial period

The use of a common time began in [British Burma](/source/British_Burma) in the late 19th century. The first confirmed mention of Rangoon Mean Time (RMT) at [GMT](/source/GMT)+6:24:40[note 2] being in use was in 1892,[5] a year before the country's first [time ball](/source/Time_ball) observatory[note 3] was opened in [Rangoon](/source/Yangon) (Yangon) on 1 October 1893.[6][7] However, the use of RMT as the common time, at least in some sectors, most probably started earlier. (The country's first rail service, between Rangoon and [Prome](/source/Pyay) (Pyay), began on 2 May 1877,[8] and the non-authoritative [IANA time zone database](/source/Tz_database) says RMT was introduced in 1880.[9]) On 1 July 1905,[10][11] a new standard time called Burma Standard Time (BST) at GMT+6:30—set to the longitude 97° 30' E, and 5 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of RMT—was first adopted by the [Railways](/source/Myanmar_Railways) and [Telegraph](/source/Myanma_Posts_and_Telecommunications) administrations.[10][12] Although the rest of the country came to adopt BST, RMT continued to be used in the city of Rangoon at least to 1927.[note 4] By 1930, however, BST apparently had been adopted in Rangoon as well.[note 5]

The standard time was changed to [Japan Standard Time](/source/Japan_Standard_Time) (JST) during the [Japanese occupation](/source/Japanese_occupation_of_Burma) of the country (1942–1945) in World War II.[13]

### After independence

The standard time was reverted to GMT+6:30 after the war.[13] It has remained ever since, even after the country's independence in 1948. The only change has been its name in English; the official English name has been changed to Myanmar Standard Time[1] presumably since 1989 when the country's name in English was changed from Burma to Myanmar.[14] The country does not observe a daylight saving time.[2]

## Timeline of common times

Name Period Offset from UTC Notes Rangoon Mean Time 2 May 1877? – 30 June 1905 UTC+6:24:40 Standard time for British Burma from at least 1892 to 30 June 1905. Continued to be used in Rangoon (Yangon) at least to 1927[15] perhaps until 1929.[16] Burma Standard Time 1 July 1905 – 30 April 1942 UTC+6:30:00 First adopted by Railways and Telegraph offices in 1905.[10][12] The October 2021 IANA database says it was introduced in 1920[13] but does not provide a source. Japan Standard Time 1 May 1942 – 2 May 1945 UTC+09:00:00 Standard time during the Japanese occupation Burma/Myanmar Standard Time 3 May 1945 – present UTC+06:30:00

## IANA time zone database

The [IANA time zone database](/source/IANA_time_zone_database) contains one [time zone](/source/Time_zone) named [Asia/Yangon](/source/Asia/Yangon)[17] for [Myanmar](/source/Myanmar)[13]

Country Code Coordinates Time Zone Comments UTC offset UTC DST offset MM 16.79543°N 96.15051°E Asia/Yangon Asia/Rangoon

## Notes

1. (Clancy 1906: 57): The Burmese calendar recognizes two types of day: astronomical and [civil](/source/Civil_day). The mean Burmese astronomical day is from midnight to midnight, and represents 1/30th of a [synodic month](/source/Synodic_month) or 23 hours, 37 minutes and 28.08 seconds. The civil day comprises two halves, the first half beginning at sunrise and the second half at sunset.

1. The time offset of 6:24:40 was the time used by the official time signal station in Rangoon per (Kinns 2020: 545) and the [Admiralty](/source/Admiralty_(United_Kingdom)) (Admiralty 1895: 27); it was confirmed by the US Naval Intelligence report (USNI 1928: 723). The IANA database ([https://www.iana.org/time-zones](https://www.iana.org/time-zones), version 2021e, released on 2021-10-21) gives 6:24:47, citing a secondary source (Reed and Low, The Indian Year Book, 1936–37, pp. 27–28); to be sure, the maintainers of the database do state that "this file is by no means authoritative." The 6:24:47 figure of (Reed and Low) may have been a typographical error from the 6:24:37 time given in (Indian Railway Board 1906: 7) which states that "... in Burma 6 1/2 hours ahead of Greenwich and 5 minutes 23 [sic] seconds earlier than Rangoon time." The Railway Board's 6:24:37 is likely false as the Admiralty records from 1898 to 1922 all say the official Rangoon time (per Kinns 2020: 545) was 6:24:40.

1. (Kinns 2020: 544): The British apparently were using a local pagoda (later came to be known as the [Signal Pagoda](/source/Alanpya_Pagoda)) in Rangoon for signaling at least since 1855, three years after their [annexation of Lower Burma](/source/Second_Anglo-Burmese_War); but "no supporting evidence of a Rangoon time signal has been found in notices prior to 1893."

1. An April 1927 dispatch by the US Naval Intelligence (USNI 1928: 723) says that the whole country, except Rangoon, used the standard time, GMT+6:30, while the city of Rangoon still used Rangoon Mean Time, which was 5 minutes 20 seconds behind Burma Standard Time (or GMT+6:24:40).

1. (Kinns 2020: 545): the UK Admiralty records show that the time ball at the Rangoon time signal station was dropped twice each day, once at GMT+17:30:00 for 00:00:00 BST (i.e. GMT+6:30:00) and also at GMT+17:35:20 for 00:00:00 RMT (i.e. GMT+6:24:40); it was only in 1930 that the time ball at Rangoon was dropped for the standard time (GMT+6:30:00).

## References

1. MFF 2002: 1

1. USNAO 2013: 262

1. [Myanmar](/source/Myanmar)

1. Clancy 1906: 57

1. Kinns 2020: 544–545

1. Hydrographic 1895: 27

1. Kinns 2021: 445

1. Chailley-Bert 1894: 336

1. IANA TZ October 2021: Burma/Myanmar

1. RE 1906: 346

1. USBS 1935: 3

1. USNO 1906: Volume IV, Appendix II, v

1. IANA October 2021: Burma/Myanmar

1. BBC News 2 December 2011

1. USNI 1928: 723

1. Kinns 2020: 545

1. Yangon

## Bibliography

- BBC News (2 December 2011). ["Who, What, Why: Should it be Burma or Myanmar?"](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16000467). BBC News.
- Chailley-Bert, Joseph (1894). [*The Colonisation of Indo-China*](https://books.google.com/books?id=cARJAAAAIAAJ). Translated by Arthur Baring Brabant. London: A. Constable & Company.
- Clancy, J.C. (January 1906). "The Burmese Calendar: A Monthly Review of Astronomy". *The Observatory*. **XXIX** (366). T. Lewis & H.P. Hollis (eds.)
- ["Bay of Bengal Pilot"](https://books.google.com/books?id=tOKvAAAAMAAJ), London: Hydrographic Office, [Admiralty](/source/Admiralty_(United_Kingdom)), 1895
- ["Time Zone Database, 2021e"](https://www.iana.org/time-zones). IANA Time Zone Database. 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- Kinns, Roger (2020). ["Time Signals for Mariners in India, Burma and Ceylon"](https://www.narit.or.th/files/JAHH/2020JAHHvol23/2020JAHH...23..523K.pdf). *[Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage](/source/Journal_of_Astronomical_History_and_Heritage)*. **23** (3): 523–552. Chiang Mai: National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand. [Bibcode:2020JAHH...23..523K](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020JAHH...23..523K). [doi:10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2020.03.05](https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2020.03.05). [S2CID 256563687](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:256563687)
- Kinns, Roger (2021). ["Time Signals for Mariners in Southeast Asia: Time Balls, Discs, Bells, Guns and Lights"](https://books.google.com/books?id=aUw2EAAAQBAJ). *Exploring the History of Southeast Asian Astronomy: A Review of Current Projects and Future Prospects and Possibilities*. Wayne Orchiston & Mayank N. Vahia (eds.). [Cham, Switzerland](/source/Cham,_Switzerland): Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-62776-8.
- The Railway Board of India (1906). [*Administration Report on the Railways in India for the Calendar Year 1905*](https://books.google.com/books?id=qJA-AQAAMAAJ). Simla: Manager of Publications.
- Union of Myanmar Ministry of Information (2002). [*Myanmar: Facts and Figures*](https://books.google.com/books?id=iXCyAAAAIAAJ). Ministry of Information, Union of Myanmar.
- United States National Bureau of Standards (1935). [*Standard Time Throughout the World*](https://books.google.com/books?id=2w8kqYGR5q8C). Washington: United States Department of Commerce.
- United States Nautical Almanac Office (17 May 2013). [*The Nautical Almanac for the Year 2014*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi3A8_DCvAcC). Government Printing Office. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-16-091756-1.
- United States Naval Observatory (1906). [*Publications of the United States Naval Observatory*](https://books.google.com/books?id=QUrnAAAAMAAJ). Vol. IV, no. 2. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- United States Office of Naval Intelligence (1928). [*Port Directory of the Principal Foreign Ports*](https://books.google.com/books?id=HVXXAAAAMAAJ). Washington: US Naval Department.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Myanmar Standard Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar_Standard_Time) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar_Standard_Time?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.