During the sad incident, his dad and a few other relatives were by the river. They were taking his herd of horses for a bath. One of the horses kicked his uncle, who fell into the river.
He didn't know how to swim and was struggling to stay afloat. Seeing that, his dad dived in and saved him. As fate would have it, it was his father who drowned.
It happened towards the end of August and that is why the annual Merdeka celebrations always brings back sad memories for the family.
"I think it has affected mum the most. Imagine, one minute she was talking to him, the next moment he was gone," said the 27-year-old, whose real name is Mohd Farish Aziz Sulaiman.
The Kota Kinabalu-born Farish and his only other sibling, an elder brother, thus grew up without the presence of a father figure.
"He had uncles and aunties to love him and his family, though.
"Growing up without a father was tough emotionally. When you look at your friends, whose fathers would come to pick them up from school, attend sporting events, or parent-teacher association meetings, you tend to feel lonely.
"I had my uncles and aunties who are always around when we needed them but it was not the same. Still, I'm thankful for their love and support all these years.
"I think that is why I simply love family gatherings," said this self-proclaimed shy guy.
His mother remarried but it only lasted for a year.
"She was too much in love with my dad," said Farish. According to his grandmother, Farish is a spitting image of his late father.
"Except that he was a six footer and I'm not!" he laughed.
But don't underestimate him just yet. Farish represented Sabah in football for several years. He was a member of the state team from the age of 14 until he turned 23.
He played for the President Cup, the Milo Cup and a host of other championships. One of the many highlights was when Sabah made it to the semi-finals in 2002 for the Under 19 category.
Why didn't he continue playing football?
"No doubt, I was disappointed that our team could not go further into the tournament. Still, the whole experience was really fun. I travelled a lot around Malaysia, made a lot of new friends and learnt a lot about our culture.
"After turning 23, I decided that I had to be realistic about my future in football so I decided to pursue a different career path," said Farish who was THE pin-up footballer poster boy during his school days as a footballer.
Farish was accepted into Unitar Kota Kinabalu where he completed a degree course in business in administration majoring in human resource management.
During his final year, Unitar Kuala Lumpur gave him a call asking him to finish his last semester in Kuala Lumpur, which he agreed.
"I was also asked to represent Unitar KL in football for the Inter-University league.
"Then Unitar asked me if I would be its model for the university's print ad. I also said yes to that!"
One thing led to another. Farish met friends who suggested that he go to a casting agency.
He did that, too.
Then one day, Farish found himself at the right place at the right time.
Maxis was shooting an ad for the company's World Cup adventure campaign in 2006. They were short of two talents when Farish was spotted. They asked if he could dribble a football.
Hello??!
"That had to be my lucky day. After showing off some skills, I got the job.
"I never thought it could be that easy," said Farish who did several more print ad commercials for KFC and Shurah Cosmetics.
His big break came when he was asked to host Astro's Durian Runtuh, a two minute TV quiz that offered cash prizes for viewers. It proved to be a windfall for him.
"I attended an open audition, which was held at Bukit Jalil, during World Youth Day in 2006.
"I didn't get the job right away but was told to come for training first. It lasted for two weeks.
"The period clashed with my final semester exams. It was a bit crazy," he recalled.
He had to place manila cards in each corner of his room and pretended to talk like a TV host even though he had not secured the job yet. He eventually did.
To date, Farish has not only hosted several TV programmes (Durian Runtuh, Bola, Ronda 360 -- a travel show), he has also acted in several TV dramas (Gaia, Pontianak Remaja, Takbir Suci 3, Kami The Series) and works as a radio deejay with Kota Kinabalu Suria FM daily from 6am to 10am, Monday to Friday.
Twice a month, he travels to Kuala Lumpur to shoot TV9's Chopp, a programme similar to 8TV's Quickie. It comes on air daily at 6.58pm and 10.28pm.
He has also come out with his own line of clothing called Kmeja based in Bangsar.
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