"Testimony by a refugee woman in Thailand who used to be a village headwoman in Kawkareik Township..." "Villages can have several types of "village heads". First there are village elders, who become elders according to traditional practices and are recognized and respected by all the villagers; one of them is generally chosen as the village head. Then there is the "SLORC village head", sometimes called the "Village LORC [Ya Wa Ta] chairman". This person is appointed by SLORC, often against his or her will, to chair the Village LORC committee, whose members are also appointed by SLORC frequently against their will. The Village LORC committee is responsible for all village liaison with SLORC, organizing and sending people for forced labour, extortion money, food, etc., and constantly going to the local Army camps to give intelligence reports and receive orders. Village LORC members are tortured or killed whenever an order is not obeyed or whenever the village is suspected of aiding resistance forces, which explains why most people do not want this job. In this woman's village, it appears that the villagers choose the SLORC village head by rotation rather than having the SLORC choose. Then in Karen areas there is usually a KNU village head, who handles liaison with Karen soldiers and organizing the food, porters, recruits etc. which they demand. SLORC is constantly trying to find out who is the KNU village head so that they can execute him - often KNU village heads have to flee the village, and if his family is left behind then SLORC will generally arrest and torture them instead..."