By Barry Porter and Haslinda Amin (Updates with analyst comment in the sixth paragraph.) Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who fought off an attack on the ringgit with capital controls during the Asian financial crisis, said currency trading is âsillyâ and the world should return to the Bretton Woods System of fixed exchange rates. Currency wars are futile and the U.S. Federal Reserveâs latest quantitative easing plan will result in hot money pushing up prices in small countries, the 85-year-old said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur today. The Fed on Nov. 3 said it intends to buy an additional $600 billion of Treasuries to foster growth. âWhen you lose money, you must accept that you have lost money,â he said. âWhen you lose money and then you go back to your house and print more money for yourself, that makes things quite ridiculous. This is money that is not real, yet this money can destabilize by, for example, going into small countries to invest in stock exchanges.â Mahathir, who stepped down in October 2003 after 22 years in power, drew international criticism when he imposed currency curbs in 1998. He called George Soros a âmoronâ and accused the billionaire investor of attacking the country, while Soros responded by describing the Southeast Asian leader as a âmenace to his own country.â South Korea and Indonesia have already adopted measures to manage capital flows, while China, India and Australia have raised interest rates to limit inflation pressure. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-16/mahathir-says-currency-trading-silly-advocates-peg.html