Why would we be Hanafi? Mazhab was not important when Islam was introduced. In fact it was the sufis who popularised Islam here but that doesn't make us sufis either. Yemenis from the Hadramut had an influence but it pales in comparison to Indian Muslims
The myth of Islam's introduction directly from Arabs is a hard one to kill. Even many westerners tend to make this assumption. "Islam is from Arabia so Arabs must have brought it here". The fact that Arabs did trade with Malays only reinforced the idea
But although Arabs did trade directly with Southeast Asia, much of that trade (particular the trade in spices and camphor) was done through India. When the Portuguese tried to find the source of the spices, they asked the Arabs who said they were obtained from Indians
Through Arabs alone, I could imagine a Muslim minority. But I find it hard to believe Islam could become the dominant religion of Malaysia and Indonesia simply because of Yemeni traders. Portuguese records tell of an Indian Muslim community in Melaka, not Yemenis
One may now ask why Shafie like the Yemenis, and why don't we have as much Persian influence as India. The reason is Hanafi spread through most of India by land, Shafie spread to south India by sea from southern Arabia. So which Indians brought Islam here?
India's contact with Southeast Asia was primarily via sea trade, and the only part of India connected to the sea is the south. It was the South Indians (today's mamak community) and Gujeratis (like Fatahillah of Jakarta) who brought Islam to the Nusantara
We know the contact between South and Southeast Asia is old and far-reaching, stretching back to Hindu-Buddhist times. There is no way Islam would become so widespread here without India. Evidence exists in language too, like our Malay usage & pronunciation of some Arabic words
