Thanks for the input on that Ben, that makes sense that the term was used. As always when considering terminology it would seem that the klewang term, being a relatively universal term describing various forms throughout Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, was likely adopted colloquially to refer to 'sword'.
While the distinct clipped point on the military version blades associate with European sabre points, the blade root seems to correspond to some of the blade forms in the 'klewang' groups (the Philippine bolo type swords for example). Obviously the basket hilt has absolutely nothing to do with the native weapons.
With that I would imagine my thoughts on trying to establish connection between native sword form and the military examples is moot. Since this particular field of study is a bit foreign
to me, just establishing facts to learn more on them.