Although it's far too long after the event to wish them a happy wedding, let me sincerely wish Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his beloved Jeanne Abdullah a long and happy life as man and wife. A never-ending honeymoon, or, perhaps more realistically, series of honeymoons.

Because even the happiest of marriages, as I've discovered for myself on my third and - trust me - final attempt, isn't a fairytale 'happily ever after' affair or a constant state of wedded bliss, but a series of ups and downs.

Delights and disagreements; enchantments and disenchantments; affections and alienation; inspirations and irritations that, with sufficient goodwill and hard work on both sides, can be steered safely clear of the divorce courts and channeled into the altogether more desirable course of falling in love with each other over and over again.

As well as the great personal happiness his new spouse appears to have brought him, the marriage also seems to have achieved a second political honeymoon for Pak Lah. For all his much-publicised failings in fulfilling his promise as prime minister, he somehow always seems to me a most amiable and likeable man. And never more so than now, for both his apparent wisdom and good taste in his choice of a new marriage partner, and for the low-key manner in which he and his bride chose their nuptials to be conducted.

This is in sharp contrast with, for example, the over-the-top opulence of the two-week extravaganza recently lavished on the marriage of Princess Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah, fourth daughter of Brunei's Sultan Hassanal, to Pengiran Khairul Khalil Pengiran Syed Haji Jaafari. Some 2,000 guests reportedly attended the ceremony in the main hall of the Sultan's 1,788-room palace, after which the newlyweds were paraded through the streets of the capital, Bandar Seri Bagwan, for the entertainment and edification of the cheering populace.

The comparative dignity and democratic restraint of the Malaysian PM's private marriage ceremony was marred only by the ugly spectacle of the pre-event summoning of top mainstream media figures to a lecture by Putrajaya's sultans of spin on how the occasion should - or rather shouldn't - be reported.

But despite their outrage at this rank and unnecessary exercise in censorship, blogsites customarily most rabid in their condemnation of the government in general and the PM in particular proved most kind and respectful in their attitude to the wedding. And the occasion even appeared to somewhat soften the heart of Pak Lah's fiercest and most personal detractor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Short supply

All of this should lend a great deal more power and credibility to the 'feel-good' factor the PM, his cabinet ministers and coalition parties have been relentlessly propounding in advance of a much-anticipated early general election. This is fortunate indeed for Pak Lah, as political honeymoons appear to be in pretty short supply around the world right now.

The former strongman of Liberia, Charles Taylor, for example, is on trial at the Hague on charges of committing or condoning war crimes.

Pakistan president and US puppet Gen Pervez Musharraf, while still very much in power, seems increasingly estranged from his electorate following his intervention in the affairs of his nation's judiciary in much the same style as former Malaysian premier Mahathir (photo) once memorably did in Malaysia. So unpopular has Musharraf become that he was recently reduced to declaring in a ranting, rambling diatribe to a rally of supporters that "I love the people, and the people love me".

The honeymoon is also totally over for a great many politicians in Bangladesh, where the military is systematically confiscating the ill-gotten gains of flagrantly corrupt politicians and throwing the offenders in jail - just as many believe that Pak Lah should be doing to many suspiciously rich officials in Malaysia.

Other electorally love-starved leaders around the world include George W Bush, Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair.

Bush, with the lowest approval ratings of any US president in history, or at least in modern memory, is a 'lame duck' serving out his second and final term in the face of strenuous opposition from Democrats still enjoying the honeymoon glow of winning majorities in both Congress and the Senate.

Putin of Russia, once seen as a force for more liberalisation and lawfulness in Russia, is another leader whose honeymoon days are over. And in his final term as president he seems to be working hard to help re-start the Cold War, periodically cutting-off gas supplies to nations that offend him, and reacting to Bush's ludicrous proposals to install a missile shield in nations of the former USSR by threatening to re-aim Russian rockets at Europe.

Blair, acutely aware that Britain's love affair with him and his spin is well and truly over, has already conceded his office to successor Gordon Brown, who's now enjoying an uneasy political honeymoon of his own as PM-in-waiting.

As for Pak Lah's second political honeymoon, there's no guessing how long it will last. His first ended in accusations of everything from sleeping on the job to failing to deliver on his election promises to restore some semblance of integrity to Malaysian politics, and his second could be marred by anything from the Mongolian C4 murder case when the trial starts, to the growing list of Enron-style corporate scandals currently being uncovered.

His authority has been further undermined by newspaper and other groups defying his express desire that none of those creepy, crawly 'congratulations' ads be run on the occasion of his marriage. But on the positive side, public celebration of his renewed marital felicity may soon be extended by exultation at the birth of his grandchild to daughter Nori and PM-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin.

In any event, however long Pak Lah's second political honeymoon lasts before it comes to a bitter end, let's hope that his personal life, thanks to his marriage to Jeanne, turns out to be nothing but honey for many, many moons to come.