The Purpose of Keris Panjang

[kai]

is its role first and foremost as a weapon of execution or as a symbol of power?

From what I understand, it's mainly a sign of power and status - you don't need an extra long blade for this way of execution. If I understand correctly, regular-sized Keris Jawa were used on Java for this purpose. Can our experts in things Jawa verify this, please?

Another hypothesis I came across was that the long blade evolved in response to the European rapiers when Portugese/etc. ships arrived at the scene...

Regards,
Kai