But that just takes away from the uniqueness and power of Forced Levy. The easiest, but imo laziest, way to change this would be to remove their gold cost.
Since the devs seem to be trying to buff infantry unique units now, how about the lowly Karambit Warrior? Malay players typically choose the Forced Levy Two-Handed Swordsman over their own unique unit, especially now that generic infantry is even better.