The head of Indonesia's military has hit back at claims that virginity tests for female recruits are degrading and humiliating, saying they are the only way to test women’s morality.
General Moeldoko was asked about the practice after Human Rights Watch called for the "two-finger" tests to be abolished.
But General Moeldoko was unrepentant.
There was "no other way" to test women's morality, he said.
Human Rights Watch last week said in a statement that the tests - usually conducted with two fingers - were cruel, degrading and a violation of international law.
"The Indonesian armed forces should recognise that harmful and humiliating 'virginity tests' on women recruits does nothing to strengthen national security,” HRW spokeswoman Nisha Varia, said in a statement.
"President Joko Widodo should set the military straight and immediately abolish the requirement and prevent all military hospitals from administering it."
HRW interviewed 11 women - recruits and officers' fiancées - who had been tested, and said all spoke of it being "painful, embarrassing, and traumatic."
In 2014 it was revealed that similar virginity tests were carried out on female recruits to Indonesia's police force, triggering international outrage and calls for the practice to be abolished.
A a female police recruit who wanted to remain anonymous told Human Rights Watch that she had to take her clothes off in front of 20 other candidates. "[The doctor] put two fingers inside me using gel. It hurt very much," she said.
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