Announcement from Foreign editor Douglas Jehl and interim Deputy Foreign Editor Susan Levine:
We’re delighted to announce that Rebecca Tan will become Southeast Asia bureau chief, responsible for covering a rapidly changing swath of the world that stretches from the Philippines to Bangladesh.
Rebecca was born and raised in Singapore, and she has spent the past seven years navigating the United States, including three as a standout reporter on Local. Her grit, poise and tenacity have been evident across a broad variety of work, from her courageous work reporting at the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 (part of the package recognized in The Post’s Pulitzer Prize for public service) to her powerful narrative of a woman seeking police accountability in Cecil County, Md., a former Ku Klux Klan stronghold. Her investigation (with Rachel Chason) into infection control lapses at local nursing homes during the pandemic led to heavy fines and new legislation.
She showed her eye for original and interesting coverage during a six-week assignment in East Asia last summer that produced a revelatory tale about the use of artificial intelligence to combat suicide in China and another about the fading allure of a U.S. education among Chinese students.
Her ability to steer through multiple worlds will serve her well in Southeast Asia, where she will also need to juggle many lines of coverage, from the civil war in Myanmar to China’s growing reach to the ways global technology companies are helping authoritarian governments maintain their grip on power. Rebecca will be based in Bangkok, a location that presents fewer obstacles to travel-intensive reporting than our current base in Hong Kong, with its strict coronavirus quarantines and tightening security restrictions.
Before joining The Post in 2019, Rebecca was an intern at Vox and then at The Post for back-to-back summers that included stints on Foreign and then Local. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. in English and a minor in history, and was executive editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian, the top editorial job on the student newspaper.
Rebecca will begin her Southeast Asia tour in July after preparing for her new role. She will spend her initial months operating from Singapore before moving to Bangkok by early 2023.
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