The Penang Storm and Flood Relief Fund was a Penang DAP initiative to assist the state government, hence the party's bank account was used to collect funds. 

DAP organising-secretary Anthony Loke at a press conference today that the governments do not normally solicit donations. 

"From day one, it was already clearly stated that all money would go to the state, every single sen of them. And, the donation amount is updated and disclosed every day," he added.

He was responding to critics who questioned DAP why the party collected money before handing it over to the state government. 

Penang DAP had launched the donation drive on Nov 5, a day after the flood had hit the state. The party collected RM5.13 million within 64 hours.

Both Penang Citizens Awareness Chant Group (Chant) and Gerakan had raised concerns over the way DAP handled the donation.

Responding to a question why DAP did not rope in an independent body to monitor the process, he said, "the state government definitely will appoint somebody to oversee the donation".

"Imagine, we are not talking about few hundred victims; this the party can distribute (the donation itself). We are talking about tens of thousands of households, this must be done by the government together with (the independent body)," he noted.

"I am sure the Penang government will announce the mechanism," he said.

Meanwhile, Loke has confirmed that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is eligible to be re-elected as the party secretary-general although the party constitution has limited the post to a maximum of three terms. 

The 2012 party election, which saw Lim elected for the third time and final term to the post, was not recognised by the Registrar of Societies (ROS). 

DAP will hold its re-election on Nov 12.

Malaysiakini had reported that this may extend Lim's tenure as secretary-general, a post he has held since 2004, all the way until 2020.

Confirming this, Loke said the new term for the CEC office bearer will be effective after this new election.

Loke attributed that to the ROS, which declined to recognise the 2012 election result of DAP. 

"It was ROS which declined to recognise the 2012 result, not us," he said. 

Should ROS recognise the 2012 party election result, he said, Lim would have step down in March 2015.