I think this was coated with some black coating, perhaps, lacquer.
I have come across this a few times but not as " bad " as this one before. If the kris were mine I would certainly attempt to clean and subsequently I would have it stained.
The cleaning may involve more or less drastic methods which won't damage the blade. But may damage the date, in red, so, depending on how important , for you, that is.
one MAY use a chemical to strip the lacquer. That shouldn't damage the blade , provided you don't leave the paint stripper too long.
If it were mine , I would not care of the date and would , first of all, try to boil the blade in salty water and then after 30 or so minutes, start using a brush with hard plastic bristles to remove the black paint.
The paint is certainly not a new very hard to remove epoxy paint and will probably respond very well to the boiling. Boiling cannot damage blade . Of courser the Hilt can and should be removed.
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