My Take | Getting washed up over indoctrination of Hong Kong children

A little bit of military-style discipline never hurts anybody, especially if they are teenagers in Hong Kong. We live, after all, in an age of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, online addiction, over-empowered adolescents, indulgent parents and gutless teachers and academics who are politically correct to a fault.

That is why it's exasperating to see the hysterical reactions of so many pan-democrats, their media allies and some parents to the inauguration ceremony for the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association.

Civic Party lawmaker Kenneth Chan Ka-lok said he feared the association would "indoctrinate" young people in patriotism. He suspected Beijing was behind the group along with the People's Liberation Army and the liaison office. Hmm, how would he know when he was one of those who accused the association of being secretive? And why is promoting patriotism automatically indoctrination and brainwashing, assuming it does that? Why is it wrong for them to swear to serve the nation and Hong Kong? Perhaps they should have pledged their loyalty to the United States, the UK or the Catholic Church in Rome.

Sham Yee-lan, head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said the organiser had no reason to bar media from the event. "With so many public figures attending and such high public interest, you can't just use invitation as an excuse," she said. "It will only make people wonder if the association has secrets."

Sorry, Ms Sham, all it really meant was that they screwed up their public relations. Maybe they didn't even have a PR office because organisers didn't want to promote the organisation too much. Surely they would then be accused of openly trying to brainwash young people with PLA-like training if they had gone on a PR and recruitment drive.

Many countries have disciplined, uniformed and/or military-like training for youngsters. As a parent, between "brainwashing" by PLA-like training and sloganeering with Long Hair and Joshua Wong, brainwash my children any day.