In every one of my stock market trading seminars, I ask each attendee his profession. I do this not only to break the ice but to give them confidence.

I think all of us bring something to the table that can help us to be successful in the stock market.

For example, engineers are much disciplined and are good at following rule-based systems. When they follow a rule-based back-tested system, this can help control emotional behavior. Emotions play a large part in financial markets.

Medical doctors are scientific and base their decisions on logic and evidence. Successful investors weigh the facts and a doctor’s thought process will give him an edge over those who make decisions based on emotions.

It was more than a decade since the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) took over the task of nurturing the national palm oil industry. Since then, many battles against those who question the value of palm oil on health grounds have been won.

But fresh fires are being lit by palm oil detractors, who have shifted their focus onto the environment battlefront. Now these efforts play on the populist sentiments surrounding ozone depletion, global warming and the resultant climate change.

The very existence of palm oil plantations is being questioned for its alleged contribution to species and biodiversity loss, with the carving out of plantations purportedly impacting the future of wildlife in their jungle habitats.

This undue attention has moved to the orang utan, whose love-able features, apparent childlike innocence and helpless vulnerability have turned the primate into a valuable mascot with which to attack palm oil.