Life after journalism: Murray Hiebert

Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert found in 1999 that he was making rather than reporting the news after filing a story about the Malaysian Judiciary for the Far eastern Economic Review. He was convicted and sent to jail for what many observers felt was oversensitivity by the Malaysian Government toward press criticism.

After serving a reduced sentence in Malaysia he was posted to Beijing to write for the Wall Street Journal. With the Wall Street Journal's presence in Asia crumbling, Murray has now left journalism to become Senior Director, Southeast Asia of the US Chamber of Commerce's East Asia Department.

Murray was in Jakarta last week to accompany his boss, Daniel W. Christman, the Senior Vice President, International Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Its a new appointment but we wish Murray well in his life after journalism. We're sure he'll help guide the US Chamber to even greater involvement with their counterparts in Southeast Asia, even as the Bush administration stumbles about with its foreign policy.