Certainly not, but I’m not surprised, because we generally emerge from the same society. It is the reason we should emphasise the functionality of institutions, to tame what is often bound to arise from our instinctive selfishness, difficult personalities and broken backgrounds of nurture. Civil society is made up of all sorts of characters and intentions, just as any other amorphous human formation. The diversity in cognition, emotional intelligence, integrity … is expected. Hence the need for keenness on character over time so as to understand who we are dealing with, how to engage and who not to engage.

For instance, I know you as someone who often attempts to logically argue out your positions. Even when I may disagree with you sometimes, I may engage you. There are others within civil society that I can’t engage, because, basing on keen observation, I know they operate from the gutter almost all the time. And such will always be there on all sides. Just like every home has a toilet.