Salim (Thai slang)

In contemporary Thai politics, salim (Thai: สลิ่ม, pronounced [sā.lìm]) is a Thai slang referring to people who are sceptics of democracy and supports the military's involvement in politics.^[1][2] Politicist Surachart Bamrungsuk saw salims as representatives of right wing middle class.^[3] The term initially referred to the "multicoloured shirts" as a reference to the colourful Thai dessert sarim and was considered by some as a pejorative.^[4] It later included other people outside the "multicoloured shirts" as well.^[2][5] The term has been used on mainstream media by 2011.^[6] In late February 2020, the term gained popularity following the Thai Constitutional Court's order to disband the pro-democracy Future Forward Party. Students, seeing the order as a political abuse, began to use hashtags including the term salim as their online activism against the ruling.^[1]

Thailand in 2005-2010 saw two main political sides either supporting or opposing then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The two identified themselves by their shirt colours, nominally; the yellow shirts (anti-Thaksin) and the red shirts (pro-Thaksin). In 2010, a new political group Network of Citizen Volunteers Protecting the Land was formed^[7] and identified as the "multicoloured shirts" to distinguish it from the aforementioned two.^[8] Some netizens later called the group salim after Thai dessert sarim which is known for its colourfulness. The term is believed to be first used on Thai web-board Pantip.com.^[9]

The term has always been a topic of various definitions and studies socially, politically, philosophically, and economically.^[10]

In 2010, Thatsana Thirawatphirom wrote that some shared traits in definitions of salim include ultra-royalism, religiosity (specifically Buddhism), being educated but uncritically believing the curricula, being broadly skeptical but gullible towards people who are seemingly knowledgeable, being a strong follower of political news and seeing Thaksin Shinawatra as a long-time threat to Thai politics, being bourgeois and trend-setters, and being highly hypocritical.^[10]

In 2011, Faris Yothasamuth describe the identifying qualities of salim as being the Thaksin-haters, monarchists, pro-military, democracy skeptics, who lacked reasoning and had a holier-than-thou attitude.^[2][11]

Since the 2020 Thai protests, the term has turned derogatory.^[12][13] It has since been used to refer to those who are ultraconservative, ultra-royalist,^[14] and pro-Prayut cabinet.^[15][16]

Prior to 2020 protests, the term was sparsely used by some writers, journalists, and academics including Nidhi Eoseewong^[17] and Kham Phaka.^[18]

In late February 2020, the term gained popularity following the Thai Constitutional Court's order to disband the pro-democracy New Future Party. Students, seeing the order as a political abuse, began to use hashtags including the term salim as their online activism against the ruling.^[1] Some of them include "#BUกูไม่เอาสลิ่ม" (Bangkok University [BU] don't want salims),^[5] "#ราชภัฏอยากงัดกับสลิ่ม" (Rajabhat universities want to fight with salims),^[19] "#KUไม่ใช่ขนมหวานราดกะทิ" (Kasetsart University [KU] is not salim).^[20] In 29 February, a channel SalimVEVO released the parody song named du salim (ดูสลิ่ม, lit. 'looking like a salim') with the lyrics beginning with "[salims are those who] love the specially tailored laws" on YouTube.^[21]