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John McBeth
John McBeth (31 May 1944 – 7 December 2023) was a New Zealand author and journalist, with the majority of his career spent in Southeast Asia.
McBeth was born on 31 May 1944, in Whanganui, New Zealand, and was the son of Sandy McBeth, a Taranaki dairy farmer, and Isla Dickinson. He attended New Plymouth Boys' High School. McBeth commenced work at the Taranaki Herald on 8 February 1962 and moved to the Auckland Star in late 1965.
McBeth left New Zealand around 1970 and headed for Fleet Street in London, but never made it there. The cargo vessel that he was aboard ran aground during its night-time entry into Tanjung Priok Harbour in Indonesia so he spent time in Jakarta before travelling to Singapore and on to Bangkok.
McBeth started employment at the Bangkok Post shortly after arriving in Thailand. He covered stories relating to the Khmer Rouge reign of terror in Cambodia and the Indochinese refugee crisis and appeared briefly as an extra in Michael Cimino's film The Deer Hunter (1978). McBeth also worked as a freelance reporter in Thailand for Agence France-Presse, United Press International (UPI), London's Daily Telegraph and spent three years writing for Hong Kong's Asiaweek.
In 1972, during the Vietnam War, McBeth reported that US Airforce B-52 aircraft were being disproportionately brought down in bombing raids because they were flying at low altitudes and on predictable routes in and out of Hanoi.
In December 1972, four Black September Arab guerrillas took over the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok. Six Israeli hostages were taken but released after a 19-hour drama that ended when Supreme Command Chief of Staff Air Chief Marshall Dawee Chullasapya and Deputy Foreign Minister Chatichai Choonhavan took the places of the hostages. They flew with the terrorists to Egypt. During the siege, McBeth spoke to one of the hostage takers on the telephone. In hindsight, he was of the view that the conversation revealed what was finally to break the siege: the terrorists expressed remorse that, unknown to them, they had made their move on the auspicious day marking the investiture of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, King Bhumibol Adulyadej's son.
From 1975 to 1976, McBeth reported on the wave of refugees that washed across Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War, the Thai fishermen/pirates who raped and murdered Vietnamese boat people, and the Thai soldiers who forced Cambodian refugees back into a Khmer Rouge minefield instead of allowing them to enter Thailand. He was one of the few journalists who detected early on the horrifying extent of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields purges, though this was initially met with incredulity by other correspondents.
In May 1979, McBeth joined the staff of the Far Eastern Economic Review, where he would remain for the next 25 years, becoming their longest serving correspondent. During his time in Thailand, including when he was at the Review, he saw and reported on five coups, one of which was aborted but led to the death of his close friend, the Australian cameraman, Neil Davis, in September 1985.
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John McBeth
John McBeth (31 May 1944 – 7 December 2023) was a New Zealand author and journalist, with the majority of his career spent in Southeast Asia.
McBeth was born on 31 May 1944, in Whanganui, New Zealand, and was the son of Sandy McBeth, a Taranaki dairy farmer, and Isla Dickinson. He attended New Plymouth Boys' High School. McBeth commenced work at the Taranaki Herald on 8 February 1962 and moved to the Auckland Star in late 1965.
McBeth left New Zealand around 1970 and headed for Fleet Street in London, but never made it there. The cargo vessel that he was aboard ran aground during its night-time entry into Tanjung Priok Harbour in Indonesia so he spent time in Jakarta before travelling to Singapore and on to Bangkok.
McBeth started employment at the Bangkok Post shortly after arriving in Thailand. He covered stories relating to the Khmer Rouge reign of terror in Cambodia and the Indochinese refugee crisis and appeared briefly as an extra in Michael Cimino's film The Deer Hunter (1978). McBeth also worked as a freelance reporter in Thailand for Agence France-Presse, United Press International (UPI), London's Daily Telegraph and spent three years writing for Hong Kong's Asiaweek.
In 1972, during the Vietnam War, McBeth reported that US Airforce B-52 aircraft were being disproportionately brought down in bombing raids because they were flying at low altitudes and on predictable routes in and out of Hanoi.
In December 1972, four Black September Arab guerrillas took over the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok. Six Israeli hostages were taken but released after a 19-hour drama that ended when Supreme Command Chief of Staff Air Chief Marshall Dawee Chullasapya and Deputy Foreign Minister Chatichai Choonhavan took the places of the hostages. They flew with the terrorists to Egypt. During the siege, McBeth spoke to one of the hostage takers on the telephone. In hindsight, he was of the view that the conversation revealed what was finally to break the siege: the terrorists expressed remorse that, unknown to them, they had made their move on the auspicious day marking the investiture of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, King Bhumibol Adulyadej's son.
From 1975 to 1976, McBeth reported on the wave of refugees that washed across Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War, the Thai fishermen/pirates who raped and murdered Vietnamese boat people, and the Thai soldiers who forced Cambodian refugees back into a Khmer Rouge minefield instead of allowing them to enter Thailand. He was one of the few journalists who detected early on the horrifying extent of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields purges, though this was initially met with incredulity by other correspondents.
In May 1979, McBeth joined the staff of the Far Eastern Economic Review, where he would remain for the next 25 years, becoming their longest serving correspondent. During his time in Thailand, including when he was at the Review, he saw and reported on five coups, one of which was aborted but led to the death of his close friend, the Australian cameraman, Neil Davis, in September 1985.