Jon (John) Anketell Brewer Swain (born 1948) is a British journalist and writer.
Swain's book ''River of Time: A Memoir of Vietnam '' chronicles his experiences from 1970 to 1975 during the war in Indochina, including the fall of Cambodia.
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Early life
Swain was born in London in 1948 and is of English, Scots, Irish, French, and Spanish descent. After an unhappy education at the independent
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...
, from which he was expelled, he ran away to join the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
.
Career
For many years, Swain was ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
' ''
correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. During this time he had many famous
scoop
Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to:
Objects
* Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging
* Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things
* Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty ...
s, including uncovering the financial support extended by
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
's
Colonel Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spelling ...
to
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...
's
National Union of Mineworkers.
He also reported for the newspaper from
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
in 1999, at the time of its vote for independence. This period saw
widespread violence by
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n-backed
militias
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
and by the Indonesian military itself, as Swain experienced first-hand. On the road to
Becora, just east of
Dili
Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...
, together with American photographer Chip Hires and their Timorese driver and interpreter, Swain encountered, and was detained by, Indonesian soldiers of
Battalion 745. In the same district, only a couple of hours later, these same soldiers would kill Dutch-born ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' journalist
Sander Thoenes
Sander Thoenes (November 7, 1968 – September 21, 1999) was a Dutch journalist who was killed, near Dili in East Timor, by soldiers of the Indonesian army. He was shot when their paths crossed on a road as the Indonesians withdrew from the terr ...
and attempt to kill his driver. The soldiers immediately abducted Swain's interpreter, rifle-butted the driver and gouged out an eye, and were looking for a discreet location to kill the two journalists and the driver. These three decided to escape, under fire, and hid in the bush. They then called ''The Sunday Times'' office in London on a mobile phone and ''The Times'' alerted the Australian forces in nearby Dili. Swain and Hires were rescued by helicopter. They located driver Sancho Ramos soon afterwards and were able to persuade the Australians to fly him to
Darwin for immediate medical attention. The interpreter, Anacleto da Silva, has never been seen since. Swain has recounted the incident in print, and in a television interview for fellow journalist
Step Vaessen
Stephanie "Step" Vaessen (born 11 February 1965) is a Dutch broadcast journalist, currently working as a Berlin correspondent for Al Jazeera English.
Early life
Vaessen is of Netherlands, Dutch origin and was born in Simpelveld in the province o ...
, who was reporting from central Dili with her cameraman spouse, André.
French journalist
Denis Robert
Denis Robert (born 9 May 1958) is a French investigative journalist, novelist and filmmaker. He formerly worked for twelve years for the newspaper ''Libération''. Robert's books, films and press interviews, denouncing the opaque workings of the ...
, who unveiled the "
Clearstream
Clearstream is a financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions and is owned by Deutsche Börse AG. It provides settlement and custody as well as other related services for securities across all asset cl ...
affair", wrote in 2006 in his book ''Clearstream, l'enquête''
that he believes Jon Swain was working in 2005 for Hakluyt & Company Limited, a private intelligence firm based in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
with close links to
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
.
Swain was portrayed by
in the film ''
The Killing Fields
A killing field is a concept in military science.
Killing field may also refer to:
* Killing Fields, a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of ...
'' (1984).
References
External links
*
1948 births
Living people
Journalists from London
British male journalists
People educated at Blundell's School
Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion
{{Cambodia-stub