Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) generally say that "Islam" is not a problem and one should separate radicalism from the true Islam, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"This means that what poses a problem is not Islam, but how Islam has been abused for the benefit of the IS group.

"They use a word that has been perverted, Islam has been perverted by IS," said Najib.

He said it was unavoidable if the incident in Paris had been linked to the Islamic militant group because similar incidents had occurred in Paris, and in fact in Ankara, Turkey too.

Thus, the general fear against Islam could be perceived, he told a press conference here after attending a G20 working dinner, before returning to Malaysia.

Najib made a three-day working visit in conjunction with the 10th G20 Summit Meeting and took part in the programme in his capacity as ASEAN Chairman.

At the press conference, the Prime Minister was also asked to comment on the views of several parties in Europe that the IS militants might infiltrate the Syrian refugee groups there and Malaysia's reaction on his proposal to bring in Syrian refugees into the country.

Najib said they could be screened beforehand by the relevant agencies.

"We will undertake screening by the relevant agencies to ensure that they had no record in the country of their origin or by Interpol, which posed doubts on their stand or if we feel that they can become radicals if we accept them later," he said.

He said that the first step that could be taken was to accept those who were already in Malaysia and working but their relatives were still out there.