The social media in Malaysia has emerged as a "battlefield" between opposing schools of thoughts in politics, religion and social issues, says Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

In declaring so, Zahid said the social media has emerged as a challenge that must be addressed by future leaders as part of the dynamics of human ecology.

"We must not only hope that the (social) media battlefield will not evolve into a real battlefield, like in Iraq, Syria and Turkey. We must enforce it.

"We must not hope that solving the evils of social media is to reduce its influence," Zahid said in his keynote address at Universiti Putra Malaysia's Human Ecology International Conference 2017, which began in Putrajaya today.

With social media, Zahid said, power through information, which was previously only available to governments, could be transferred to the people, citing the example of Wikileaks founders Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

Failure to harness the power of social media, Zahid warned, could pose a challenge for the survival of future generations.

In Malaysia, Zahid claimed, there were parties out to undermine peace and harmony in the country by challenging the social contract that has served as a foundation to unite all Malaysians.

Without mentioning names, Zahid claimed there are people who want to grab power and have distorted the social contract with their deceptive propaganda.

"There is a Malay proverb 'retak menunggu belah' (small problem turning into a big disaster) and we must not let that happen.

"I must remind you that if the social contract is broken, there will not be social disorder but worse than that, our streets will be littered with blood and dead bodies," Zahid warned.

'Economic warfare also a challenge'

In his speech, Zahid also said that future leaders must think unconventionally to transform the economic foundation, and place Malaysia in an advantageous position without succumbing to business powerhouses and greedy businessman.

He noted that there has been a rise of corporations that ignore national boundaries and demand a "level playing field", without respecting policies that protect a nation's interest.

"Economic warfare has given rise to unethical practices that deviate from Adam Smith's moral principles of economies that equal distribution of wealth is the basis of the social framework.

"Currency warfare and market monopolies are shrinking the money markets of most nations," Zahid said.

The three-day international conference also features speakers such as economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram, University of South Australia's Associate Professor Peter Gale, Dr Raden G Piadozo of University of the Philippines Los Banos and Dr Arif Satria from Bogor Agricultural University.