Michael Keon
| Michale Keon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
19 October 1918 Melbourne, Victoria |
| Died | 22 May 2006 (aged 87) Rosebud, Victoria |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genre | political fiction, war novel |
| Notable works | The Durian Tree |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Marcos |
| Children | Michael Marcos Keon |
Michael Keon (19 October 1918 – 22 May 2006) was an Australian political journalist and author. His articles and books mainly focus on Asian politics and the military actions that surround the changes and transitions in political power.
Born James Michael Keon (aka J. M. Keon) in Melbourne, Victoria. Michael married Elizabeth Marcos, a member of the Philippine political family, and sister of Ferdinand Marcos. Their son is the Filipino politician Michael Marcos Keon.
During World War II Keon work for the Department of Information (D.O.I.), a branch of the Australian Government. In November 1945 he and fellow journalist Geoffrey Sawer broadcast a series of three short-wave radio reports criticizing the policies of the Great Britain, the United States, and the Dutch (who controlled much of the country) of their activities in Indonesia, and their hypocrisy (mainly the U.S.) in ignoring the plight of the country and the Indonesian people. The broadcasts caused a backlash in that one arm of the government was criticizing another, and these transmissions were themselves criticized, prompting a ministerial investigation into broadcast policy, and the resignation of the short-wave division head, William Macmahon Ball.
In the late 1940s he worked as a correspondent for United Press International. He spent much of this time covering the Communist in China and elsewhere is Southeast Asia. In January 1948 while covering the Chinese Civil War he was walking in a field outside the west side of Peiping with fellow journalist and farmer Erich Wilberg (from Bremen), when gun fire was directed towards them. Keon hit the ground and was not injured just as Wilberg was killed.
On 1 and 2 February 1949, Keon and Spencer Moosa (the correspondent for the Associated Press) reported on the Communist taking the city of Peiping. Soon after the Communist news agency started broadcasting that the people demand that the two journalist be expelled because they had 'libeled the people'. By the end of February all foreign correspondents, news-agencies, foreign newspapers, etc., were ordered to discontinue activities.
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