Hmaing joined the nationalist Dobama Asiayone (We Burmans Association) in 1934 and quickly rose to become the leader of young Thakins - a title that proclaimed they were the true masters of their own land, not the British who had usurped the title.
In the wake of the second university students strike in history of 1936 when the All Burma Students Union (ABSU) was formed, Hmaing was elected its patron [REF].