Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's newly unveiled Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) is merely a trick to cover up his failure to achieve BN's long-touted goal of Vision 2020, said former Umno leader Mukhriz Mahathir.

The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia vice -president said it is obvious the country will not realise its goal of reaching developed nation status in 2020, judging from the present social and economic situation.

"To distract our attention from such failure, the government then announced TN50, which has a long way to go," Mukhriz, son of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who introduced Vision 2020, was quoted by Free Malaysia Today saying.

Najib unveiled his own TN50 last Friday in Parliament and made the call to "let the old legacy pass".

"From now on TN50 is our lucky charm. Let the old legacy pass. The future of Malaysia, we recreate," said Najib.

Mukhriz however said the government should try to achieve the target of Vision 2020 first, before announcing any new initiatives.

"It is maybe too late, but we want to know the efforts in the next four years (to reach the government's goal of 2020).

"What can we do to improve the country's economic status in fulfilling the vision?" he asked.

"We can't talk about new visions until the goal is meet. This should not have happened," he added.

Whither NTP 1.0?

Najib's tagline for the past six years since assuming office had been his "national transformation programme (NTP)" unveiled in 2010.

Last year, he was reported saying, "NTP allows our expectations for 2020 to be achievable via rationalised means."

In the lead up to his Budget 2016 last October, he said, "I have a plan, and the plan is working."

His new extended 30-year milestone has drawn scorn from opposition MPs since its unveiling.

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said TN50 appears to be negating the Vision 2020 put in place by his predecessor, while Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang pointed out it was an admission of the BN administration's failure.

Jailed former opposition leader and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said such a vision may be headed nowhere.