Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, will monitor Islamic boarding schools as part of its effort to fight militant violence and suicide bombings, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.

Indonesia has been racked by a spate of bomb attacks in recent years, including one on the tourist island of Bali this month in which 23 people died, including four Australians and three suicide bombers.

Several people convicted over or linked to earlier blasts were militants who had studied at al-Mukmin, a Muslim boarding school, or pesantren, in Ngruki in central Java.

"It's possible that there are one or two very extreme pesantren among 17,000 pesantrens, and their teachings are not in line with those recognised by our Ulemas (Muslim preachers), therefore they must be put under surveillance," Kalla, known to be a devout Muslim himself, told reporters late on Wednesday. He did not mention any schools by name.

When asked about the boarding school in Ngruki near the city of Solo, co-founded in the 1970s by jailed militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, Kalla said: "We have assigned the minister of religious affairs to examine all, locating boarding schools which could bring the young to kill themselves and others, including other Muslims, for nothing." Bashir is serving a 30-month jail term for his role in the 2002 bombings on the holiday island of Bali which killed 202 mostly foreign tourists.

The International Crisis Group has described al-Mukmin as at the top of Jemaah Islamiah's "Ivy League" of schools where members send their children.

Authorities blame Jemaah Islamiah for bombings in Indonesia and planned and actual attacks elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Aside from the Bali attacks, in recent years Indonesia has seen a deadly car bomb blast at a luxury hotel in Jakarta and another outside the Australian embassy.

Bashir, who has denied responsibility for any bombings as well as any knowledge of Jemaah Islamiah, condemned the latest attacks in Bali but also described them as a warning from God.