In November 1945 he and fellow journalist Geoffrey Sawer broadcast a series of three short-wave radio reports criticizing the policies of the United Kingdom, 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.
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.
[5][6] 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.
[2] Keon worked for the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and had a hand in setting up the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna.
[11] In 1963, at the age of eight, Michael Edward made worldwide headlines in the international custody battle between his parents.
[11] Keon's novel, The Durian Tree, about the struggle between the British colonialist and Communist insurgents after World War II in Malaysia, was the basis for the 1964 film The 7th Dawn.
[13][14] Keon's former wife, Elizabeth Marcos, was vice-governor and later governor of the Philippine province of Ilocos Norte (1971–83).