Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak call for national consensus today could be a move to shore up dwindling support for him, said an opposition lawmaker.

PKR's Bukit Katil MP Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin ( photo ) said this was because Najib was under a great  deal of pressure from Umno.

"It is called irony when the prime minister mentions national consensus in the Eleventh Malaysia PlaN, because opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had mentioned this before too.

"I think this is because of the strong criticism that has been levelled  against the prime minister (while) support for him within his own party has eroded significantly," he told reporters at Parliament today.

He was referring to mounting pressure against Najib with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad leading the charge to oust former from office.

In unveiling the 11th Malaysia Plan this morning, Najib said there needed to be national consensus on where the country was headed post-2020.

This echoed a call made by Anwar after the 13th general elections when as opposition leader he said that there needed to be national consensus to heal the rifts among all Malaysians.

Shamsul, however, doubts that Najib is actually extending an olive branch to anyone.

Consensus talk meaningless

"If we talk about national consensus [...] I would expect the government to call for a bipartisan committee on the 11MP before they announced the plan.

"But the fact is that it is a top-down approach and none of us are involved beyond debating it. I don't think that's a real gesture or the real intent of the prime minister (on national consensus)," he added.

Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin ( photo ) pointed out that what Najib wanted  was completely different from what Anwar had proposed.

"Anwar's national consensus call was focussed on reducing racial tension and religious tension after the GE13.

"Najib is talking about supporting his blueprint only. His intention of national consensus is to get support for the 11th Malaysia Plan," he said.

Shamsul said if Najib was truly sincere, then the government must take what the opposition says seriously.

"If you want to work together then when we give our criticism in Parliament, that should be taken seriously by both the prime minister and government seriously," he said.

He added that until the government was willing to take criticism, then any talk of national consensus would be meaningless.