Purdey, Jemma2017-05-182017-05-182009Purdey, J. (2011). Being an apologist?: The Cornell Paper and a debate between friends. In R. Cribb (Ed.), Transmission of academic values in Asian Studies: workshop proceedings. Canberra: Australia-Netherlands Research Collaboration978-1-74076-225-0http://hdl.handle.net/1885/116955For those who knew Herb Feith, Indonesia scholar, humanist and peace studies pioneer it is perhaps unimaginable that he could be regarded as an apologist for atrocities committed in Indonesia. But in early 1966, in the midst of the ongoing massacres of communists and their suspected sympathisers after the so?called 'coup' attempt the previous year on 30 September, some of Herb's close and respected colleagues were perplexed at what they took as words from Herb condoning the military? sponsored violence. This article is an attempt to present a closer look at the conversation that took place between these scholars of Indonesia at this critical moment, because it raises pertinent questions still relevant in Indonesian and Asian studies more broadly about how we balance our obligations as analysts seeking substantiated truth and fact, with the moral obligation to speak against tyranny and injustice and the pressures we experience from within our own national contexts.Australian National University and Leiden University150kB11 pagespdfANU has permission for web publication from the authors of all the papers included in the collection Transmission of academic values in Asian Studies. A statement appears on the main page of the website: 'Copyright in and responsibility for the content of each paper lies with its author. Papers appear on this website by permission of the authors. Any paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright Act (1954), its later amendments and any other relevant legislation.' - from email of Professor Robert Cribb, ANRC Project Coordinator (Australia), dated 4/8/112011