Nevertheless, the introduction of the freedom of speech enabled public expression of far-right politics. The new mainstream politics showed significantly more courtesy to the Ustaše for their desire to make Croatia independent, but they were neither rehabilitated nor explicitly banned. Subsequently, no new laws were passed in the 1990s that specifically targeted the issues of Nazism or fascism. The primary reason for the disregard of past fascism in Croatia has been a lack of priority and care taken by the Croatian public and the mainstream politics towards the issue, because numerous other issues plagued the country at the time. The late president of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, who had been a Partisan general who had fought the Ustaše, became a champion of reconciliation (Croatian "pomirenje" or "pomirba"), whereby Croats of all political views should unite against the shared threat from Serbia. This had the effect of also bringing pro-Ustaše Croats into the fray, their philosophy and ideas no longer taboo. Tuđman publicly stated that the Ustaša state was not only criminal in nature but also an expression of the desire of Croats to regain their independence after centuries. Such a notion could be considered true in view of Croatia's long historical struggle for independence, but does not give enough consideration to the puppet-state status of the NDH. After the war more anti-fascist-inclined people were no longer willing to set aside political differences with the more fascist-inclined.