Malaysian PM plans to marry on Saturday -aide

KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 (Reuters) Malaysia's prime minister plans to tie the knot this week for the second time, an aide said today, less than two years after the premier's first wife died from breast cancer.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 67, will marry Jeanne Abdullah, 53, the manager of his official residence in the Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya, at a private function on Saturday, the aide told Reuters.

''It's a ceremony for close relatives only,'' said the aide, who asked not to be named.

Abdullah's future wife is a divorcee with two children. She helped manage several hotels in Malaysia before taking up her current post, according to an announcement on the Prime Minister's Web site.

No further details were immediately available.

Abdullah was married to Endon Mahmood, a former colleague in the Malaysian civil service, for 40 years before she died on October 20, 2005, after a lengthy battle with cancer. They had two children, Kamaluddin and Nori.

REUTERS CS KP1108