Indonesia considers compulsory call-up

JAKARTA - Indonesia is considering conscription, which could see hundreds of thousands of men drafted into its military.

Parliament will early next year debate legislation calling for men between 18 and 45 to be called up into the TNI defence for five years as reservists.

Indonesia has almost 300,000 troops serving across 13,000 islands. Conscription could add 800,000 more men capable of being deployed in wartime or military emergencies.

The Defence Ministry's director-general of defence potential, First Admiral Dharmawan, said the TNI was vastly undersized compared with Thailand and Vietnam, considering Indonesia's 220 million population.

- AAP